Baltimore

> Tag: Baltimore

I always had a soft spot for the ol’ spook

Who Was Edgar Allan Poe? by Jim Gigliotti

January 11, 2022 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Once you recommend one book in the Who Was series (Who Was, Who Is, even What Is) you have pretty much said everything you need about them. They are fun, simple, and while might not get “down and dirty” you do find a little dust here and there. I tend to like the books about people over the “things” or events (though the Ice Age was interesting as it showed that we are still learning about it, even though it seems like something that is […]

For Three!

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery by Rosalie Knecht

Never Easy, Never Pretty: A Fan, A Team, A Championship Season by Dean Bartoli Smith

August 17, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

Knocked out three books this weekend, all of which I enjoyed to varying degrees… The Book of Three A cute, charming fantasy novel. Perhaps a little too derivative of LOTR (the wolf-like character might as well have been called “Gollum”) but still entertaining and occasionally refreshing when compared to the rest of the genre. I also enjoyed a compelling female character that had autonomy without having to be everyone’s Hashtag Badass Woman (in other words: I appreciate a male writer who can write a […]

Will You Ever Win?

Dream Girl by Laura Lippman

June 25, 2021 by Jake 1 Comment

Laura Lippman continues to outdo herself. After an entertaining (but pedestrian by recent standards) standalone in The Lady on the Lake, she again finds the form she had in Sunburn. I don’t know yet which is better but I know I liked them both a lot. While I guess it’s somewhat of a mystery, this book is a horror, with transparent shades of Stephen King’s Misery. And yet, Lippman is able to make it a work all of her own by taking the piggish perspective of Gerry, the writer, and […]

a sweet and familiar coming-of-age story that sidestepped my biggest worries

Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau

May 25, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Let me start out with a BIG sigh of relief: WHEW!!!! That was a CLOSE one! In a story where a 14 year old girl is introduced to sex, drugs, and rock and roll things could have gone quickly and irreparably off the rails- especially with blurbs on the jacket comparing Mary Jane to Daisy Jones and the Six and Almost Famous! Don’t get me wrong: I loved Almost Famous as a teen, but it does not treat it’s female characters with much kindness. I found Daisy Jones to be […]

Charm City’s Worst

We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption in an American City by Justin Fenton

March 29, 2021 by Jake 1 Comment

It’s wild to read this as the trial of Derek Chauvin is going on. I left Baltimore at the end of 2016. Was there for the 2015 Uprising. I know firsthand that the tension which boiled over in April of that year had never really settled. Baltimore has the same social issues and structural inequalities as most American metropolises. It’s over-policed and under-resourced, riddled with a white supremacist power structure that is almost impossible to reform. People demand reform but also want “results” in the […]

Bad Men

Quarry by Max Allan Collins

I Got a Monster: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Corrupt Police Squad by Baynard Woods & Brandon Sodeberg

July 27, 2020 by Jake 1 Comment

I read two books over the weekend about bad men. One fiction, one non-fiction. Both good in their own respective ways. Quarry 4 stars This month’s Hard Case Crime tale was one I had actually been avoiding for a while. I find Max Allan Collins to be insufferable. In interviews I’ve read with him, he seems to be the kind of blowhard-ish know-it-all I don’t care for in the crime community. His verbal racism at the Shamus Awards was obnoxious. Really, how hard is it to […]

MsWas on I was right to kidnap this book.That is a hilarious and inventive way to give that book. I will have to keep that in mind.
Emmalita on I was right to kidnap this book.Ok, but your gift giving game is excellent!
Emmalita on OK, I Need to Talk About These BooksThere are some books that are addictive even when they make us feel bad about ourselves after reading them. I can see how these books...
Malin on “One doesn’t need magic if one knows enough stories.”I really want to read this, I'm just worried that it being set in a fictional version of Norway is going to push some peeve...
Michellers66 on I was right to kidnap this book.I am not familiar with Benjamin Stevenson and delighted to try one of his books, think I will start with Either Side of Midnight per...

Search This Site