Lapse by Sarah Thornton
Read as part of CBR16Bingo: scandal. The main character is on the run to this small town after a fiasco in her past life and has to deal with a fiasco in her current one. I grabbed this one maybe because of Ted Lasso? I don’t remember but I feel like I read somewhere that this was pitched as a Ted Lasso-esque coach solving a mystery. That’s not really the case though. Clementine Jones, though she is similarly running from her past, is not the […]
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Batmanga: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga, Vol. 1 by Jiro Kuwata
Magic: The Life of Earvin "Magic" Johnson by Roland Lazenby
Somebody Owes Me Money by Donald Westlake
When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block
The Curse: The Colorful & Chaotic History of the LA Clippers by Mick Minas
Jerry West: The Life and Legend of a Basketball Icon by Roland Lazenby
You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott
Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping by Matthew Salesses
June already? Sheesh. The Brass Verdict**** Ever since John Grisham lost his fastball in the late-90s, I’ve mostly forsaken legal thrillers. But I like the Bosch series and I wanted to read something LA-based and this delivered. It’s a fun plot with some legit exciting twists. Will probably go back to it at some point or maybe watch the show. Interior Chinatown*** I wish I liked this one more than I did. The satire is razor sharp, the story is deep and the pain is […]
Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant by Roland Lazenby
CN: This review touches on the details surrounding Kobe Bryant’s sexual assault case and settlement. While it does not go into graphic detail, those who are sensitive to sexual assault can skip this review. And so I conclude Roland Lazenby’s trio of books on great Lakers guards. First Magic Johnson, then Jerry West, and finishing up with Kobe Bryant. This is by far Lazenby’s best one and though it struggles with some of the same issues his others do (trading insight for access, taking shortcuts […]
The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness by Andy McCullough
The fascinating thing about this book is how I was more interested in Clayton Kershaw’s story than the man himself. I suppose both are intertwined. But I think Kershaw has a fascinating story, rising from the challenges of his youth to becoming the consensus best pitcher of his generation. The man himself? Eh. Stays private, sometimes shows a funny side, family man, Christian of the Baptist/Evangelical/non-liturgical variety. Seems like a decent guy, certainly not an intriguing one. Andy McCullough seems to know this without saying […]
The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones
A Lowcountry Bride by Preslaysa Williams
Bone White by Ronald Malfi
Alexander the Great by Phillip Freeman
Nero: Matricide, Murder and Music in Imperial Rome by Anthony Everitt and Roddy Ashworth
Beyond a Boundary by C.L.R. James
A Stab in the Dark by Lawrence Block
The Killing Kind by John Connolly
Shōgun by James Clavell
Nobody's Angel by Jack Clark
A Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Tinseltown's Most Shocking Crime by Casey Sherman
Village in the Dark by Iris Yamashita
Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age by Michael Woolraich
Rain, rain, go away. I thought my reading count looked too low and then I realized I didn’t do leftovers for February, so here’s Feb-March combined. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and Rise of the Tudors ***** Jones is such a talented historian. Gets all the important stuff of the Wars of the Roses in great detail and lets the story entertain. His Templars book will soon be on my radar. A Lowcountry Bride**** Had to read this for a library […]
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
At 37, Carrie Soto is well past the age of retirement for a professional female tennis player, and as the record holder of most Slam titles won, she can rest easy as the best player the world has ever seen – until a younger player matches her. At this point, I probably have to admit that Jenkins Reid’s historical novels have a distinct cheesiness about them, and that I enjoy it very much. Having first met Carrie in Malibu Rising in an unpleasant cameo, I knew she […]
