Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Standing Outside a Broken Phonebooth…

Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley

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This is the first Walter Mosley book I’ve read that didn’t feature his famed detective Easy Rawlins. I liked it, with some reservations. We’re introduced to Joe King Oliver, a former NYPD detective who was framed and now has to make a living as a PI, trawling the streets of New York. Mosley’s Oliver is similar to Rawlins: a man who has been wronged yet has faults of his own. Mosley is quite good at making one feel sympathetic to his male protagonists while also […]

Vampire, PI

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I read almost all of Charlie Huston’s catalogue between 2011-2012. I loved the Hank Thompson trilogy and The Shotgun Rule was good as well. I don’t often enjoy fun, trashy Tarantino-esque thrill writers but Huston has more talent than most. I couldn’t put his books down. The ending of the Hank Thompson trilogy stays with me to this day. However, I avoided the Joe Pitt series series for a long time because I don’t like those kinds of monster crossover works. I tried one Jim Butcher book and […]

“The Departed” set in Giuliani’s New York

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This is what may be termed as a “bad sandwich” book: nothing wrong with the bread but what’s in the sandwich is awful. In other words: the first and third act are a lot of fun, the second act soured me to the point where it’s tough to appreciate the book in its totality. I’ll start with the positives. I liked the Michael Forsythe character. Immigrating from Ireland to get work, Michael is stuck with a violent gang tied to the Irish mob in early-90s […]

Takes Two to Make a Tango

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This is my Fahrenheit 451. To this day I have a hard time understanding the minds of people who ban and challenge books. You do not like it? Great. There are another 4 billion books out there. Find one you do like. But do not tell me I cannot read a book. Justin Richards, Peter Parnell and Henry Cole came together to make And Tango Makes Three. The story is a true story about two penguins in the New York Central Zoo. These two love […]

Dreams of an Extraordinary Life.

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In The Dress and the Girl by Camille Andros a young girl dreams of having an extraordinary life. While wearing her favorite dress her mother made her, she goes and enjoys the simple life of her village: watching the sunset, doing chores, picking flowers, going to school, playing and riding in wagons. One day, her family takes a special trip. They are emigrating to a new country. And while the girl and dress still play and go to school, instead of a wagon they are […]

Not a Marvel to Me (too lazy to come up with a better title)

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Sometimes when I am reading a novel, I find myself already writing the review and making comments on it in my head while I’m reading.  I’m never sure if I’m doing the novel a disadvantage and preventing myself from enjoying it more, or if it happens because something about the novel isn’t quite clicking, therefore leading me already try to analyze what is not working.  Basically, am I being overcritical because I am not enjoying it, or am I not enjoying it because I’m being […]



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