Cannonball Read 14

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Slivers of Hope in an Unknown Doorway

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

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Listened to as an audiobook, read by the author. And what a calm and straightforward voice! I can’t remember why Exit West came on my radar (I think I saw someone talking about it on Twitter?) but in any case, it was well worth the read. A story tied to real-world pain but with a fantasy element to string the story along. Does this magical realism entirely work? Mileage may vary, but overall I think the novel was successful in what it set out to […]

CBRBingo – Own Voices. If you know anyone with the rally cry of “send her back” give them this book.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

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CBR Bingo – Own Voices This is my second read of Mohsin Hamid, having read “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” last year. He was not on my radar except for the intentional choice to read outside of my standard zone, by way of fighting ignorance (looking at you, Drumpf) with education. I came across an article via lithub (http://lithub.com/10-contemporary-nov…) that gave 10 contemporary books to read, and a friend and I decided to tackle “The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” It was interesting, surprising, heartfelt, and disheartening. It put a […]

Yadda yadda yadda, and there was peace throughout the land

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

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Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West has been on my radar since it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2017. When it showed up on the shortlist for this year’s International DUBLIN Literary Award, I figured it was time to see what all the fuss was about.  In an unnamed city in a long-simmering war with itself, Nadia and Saeed meet at a night class. At first cautious in their romance, they are thrown together when the fighting intensifies and Saeed’s mother is blown apart […]

Beautiful and Tragic

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

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I chose to read this book because I saw it on the to-read list of a baseball player I really like, Sean Doolittle.  Doolittle is a very good player and someone who is known for being an even better person.  He is also considered one of the most, let’s say intellectual, players in baseball and maybe sports as a whole.  He attended the University of Virginia, in my home state, so I’ve always felt an affinity for Doolittle.  He posted a picture of his current […]

To Believe or Not to Believe

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

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Set as a monologue given by Changez to a man he meets in Lahore – a man who may or may not be a spy – The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a book that not only examines a Pakistani man who is in America during 9-11 but also the question of the reliable or unreliable narrator. Changez’s story details his, perhaps, buying into the American dream or idea, his love for a typical, cliched American beauty, and his reaction to the terrorist attack 9-11. The question […]

Of course it would cost something, but he was an expert in cutting corners; and when there were no more corners left he would make circles rounder.

The Magic Barrel and Other Stories; Elric of Melibone; The Humbling; Joe Gould's Teeth; The Maltese Falcon; How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia; Happy Endings; DA; Fox 8; Snowpiercer; Embroideries; Tinkers by Bernard Malamud; Michael Moorcock; Philip Roth; Jill Lepore; Dashiell Hammett; Mohsin Hamid; Various Authors - Diana Schultz, Mike Mignola, Harvey Pekar et al; Connie Willis; Marjane Satrapi; George Saunders; Jacques Lob and Jean Marc Rochette; Paul Harding

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The Magic Barrel – 5/5 Stars This story collection came out in 1959 and contains the well known title story, but also has several other very good stories. It won the National Book Award as well. As I have previously stated in reviews, the age of the writer (here in a kind of debut effort) lends itself to an already mature and thoughtful work (this was also true for many of Raymond Chandler’s stories as well as the story collection A Lucky Man by Jamel […]



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