Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

When Nothing Else Matters

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

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The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is fairly easy to describe: an alternate history mystery tale set in a Jewish colony in Alaska that’s about to be handed over to the United States. But it’s so much more. This book pays homage to the great hardboiled traditions of the past but has a big beating heart in the middle. And it also functions as a hilarious and sad commentary on Jewish life post-World War II. I’m aware of how acclaimed Michael Chabon is but I’ve not had much […]

Bayou Bengals

Heaven's Prisoners by James Lee Burke

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When I was a kid, I used to go with my dad to visit his parents, who retired to a bayou in north Louisiana. And while north Louisiana is almost a drastically different state than south Louisiana, the flourishes of French culture combined with the marshlands, cypress trees, and petrostate aesthetic are still prevalent in that neck of the woods. So whenever I need to do some bayou reading, I look up the next David Robicheaux book from James Lee Burke. I plan on pouring […]

Twisty mystery and snarky humor

Cry Wolf by Charlie Adhara

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“Dreams change. People change. Please just don’t stop giving me the chance to change with you.” I absolutely adore this series! Five books in, Oliver and Park feel like old friends, and I know to expect a good twisty mystery, lots of snarky humor, and a steamy and sweet relationship between them. This series can’t be read out of order, and this review will contain spoilers for previous books. “Ignorance and influence are rarely as unrelated as they should be. You have a lot more […]

How they get you.

The Project by Courtney Summers

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Overall, this was a great book. I read it super fast, and found it very compelling in multiple ways. I did have two pretty big problems with it, though, so it’s not getting that five star rating I thought it might when I was halfway through. This is only my second Courtney Summers book, my first being her previous novel, Sadie, which I liked but didn’t love (I did the audio and thought the production was horrendous, which definitely affected my feelings towards the book). […]

Baby’s first cozy mystery. I guess I’m Baby in this metaphor.

Death By Dumpling (A Noodle Shop Mystery, #1) by Vivien Chien

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I have slightly mixed feelings on this one, but overall I enjoyed it! I think this might actually be my first true cozy mystery, although I’ve read books that you might stretch to fit into that genre, like the Inspector Gamache books, but the cozy part is only a small part of that series. As far as I understand it, a true “cozy mystery” involves very little stress on the part of the reader, usually takes place in a small town with eccentric villagers, heavily […]

I Wonder Indeed

And Sometimes I Wonder About You by Walter Mosley

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I understand that as readers, we bring our own perceptions and biases to books in ways authors do not intend. Such is the exchange between creator and those indulging their creation. I genuinely try to connect with what writers are saying in books despite my own bullcrap. I hate it when readers/reviewers talk about reading or watching something and say “I’m just going to pretend its this instead.” But with Walter Mosley’s Leonid McGill series, I can’t help it. In the early aughts, Mosley turned […]



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