lawrence block

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The Books of Greenwich Village

Chin: The Life and Crimes of Mob Boss Chin Gigante by Larry McShane

69 Barrow Street/Strange Embrace by Lawrence Block

The Pope of Greenwich Village by Vincent Patrick

May 11, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

Unintentionally so, I read three consecutive books set in Greenwich Village (well, I guess technically three out of four as one of the books is a two-for-one and the second story isn’t set in the Village). I decided to cobble together one review of the stories since they shared this similarity… Chin *** When I’d first heard of Chin Gigante, I was more fascinated with the idea that the mob had a thriving operation in Greenwich Village, an area I’ve always associated with Bohemians and the […]

Corona Days

Honor Thy Father by Gay Talese

Hit and Run by Lawrence Block

The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost

May 8, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

After two-plus years of successfully evading the coronavirus, it finally caught up to me last week. Fortunately, my symptoms were mild (vaccinated and boosted), the only one lingering was fatigue. That and family responsibilities left me little time to write reviews this past week. So I decided to put these three here instead of my monthly dump because they were all worthy of longer reviews, two good, one damn fine. Honor Thy Father **** One of the things that made The Sopranos such an excellent television […]

January 2022 Leftovers

Hit Parade by Lawrence Block

Sex Criminals, Volume 1: One Weird Trick by Matt Fraction, Chip Zdarsky

Devils In Exile by Chuck Hogan

Ex Machina, The Deluxe Edition: Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

Munich by Robert Harris

Shella by Andrew Vachss

Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler

The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz

No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfeld

The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris

February 2, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

My resolution for Cannonball Read in 2022 is to only write reviews where I feel like I have much to say and then dump the others in a singular post at the end of the month to track how much I’ve read. This’ll spare me from writing 250+ words about books that I can’t even think of a hundred for. So… Hit Parade **** I enjoy these books and while this is the one I maybe enjoyed the least (did EVERY story need cutaway conversations with […]

Merry Christmas!

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

The Girl With the Long Green Heart by Lawrence Block

Cold Shot to the Heart by Wallace Stroby

Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League by Britni de la Cretaz and Lyndsey D'Arcangelo

All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortune and Misfortune of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty by Jonathan Pearson

The Blonde on the Street Corner by David Goodis

December 26, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! Having been busy with Christmas prep, avoiding Delta and Omicron, and other various things, I haven’t had the time to write long, 250+ reviews for these books. I figured I’d just cram them all here since I know I won’t finish Robert Caro’s Master of the Senate before New Year’s Eve. The Fortress of Solitude *** This clears the 3-star threshold but just barely. I appreciate what Lethem is trying to do here and I usually enjoy his work. But this was a […]

Matt Scudder – Nostalgic NYC Noir

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block

December 10, 2021 by xoxoxoe 1 Comment

My dad was a huge fan of the prolific author Lawrence Block. Block is best known for two series of books, one following ex NYC cop Matthew Scudder and his battles with alcohol and guilt, as well as a light-hearted series about the charming burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, who always seems to find himself on a job in a fabulous residence that also happens to contain a dead body. Most of the Scudder novels are included with my Audible subscription, so I have been enjoying revisiting […]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan, et al.

Mrs. March by Virginia Fieto

Quarry's Vote by Max Allan Collins

The Man Who Came Uptown by George Pelecanos

Hit List by Lawrence Block

The Overlook by Michael Connelly

November 28, 2021 by Jake 1 Comment

Happy Thanksgiving! In addition to feasting on food, I spend the holiday feasting on books. After a few long reads, I plowed through some things I’ve been meaning to get to for a while. Enjoy! Y: The Last Man **** I was excited to finally read this, being a big Brian K. Vaughan fan and being intrigued by the premise. Stephen King blurbed this as the best comic he ever read. The TV show looked good and I wanted to get in on it. And […]

Malin on Strangers on a Train with no murder involved!This seems great! Onto the TBR it goes.
Malin on “It’s never a good thing when the black volhv says ‘Uh-oh’ and then runs for his life.”Nope, once they publish Ruby Fever in August, they're basically free to do their own thing.
Emmalita on The world is a constant compromise, a greeting of the other and of yourself.She plays with different genres and I don't think everything works for everyone. This one worked for me immediately. Velvet was the Night required more...
narfna on “It’s never a good thing when the black volhv says ‘Uh-oh’ and then runs for his life.”Oh, I didn't know they were going full self-pub now! I knew the Innkeeper Chronicles were self-published, but I guess I thought it was a...
Malin on “It’s never a good thing when the black volhv says ‘Uh-oh’ and then runs for his life.”I think that a Roman book is one of the things that House Andrews have promised may happen in the future now that they're not...

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