Jake Cline
@jakecline.bsky.social
Writer, editor, book critic. Bylines, etc., at jakecline.net. I live in Miami.
Pinned
Review | At 81, Joy Williams is as good as she’s ever been
The new story collection “The Pelican Child” is her best book since the 2000 novel “The Quick and the Dead.”
wapo.st
Hello! I wrote about Joy Williams and her new book for @washingtonpost.com.
Reposted by Jake Cline
At Third Act @thirdactorg.bsky.social we are by definition older Americans. We've seen more stuff than most people.
But we've never seen the president demand the execution of members of Congress.
But we've never seen the president demand the execution of members of Congress.
November 20, 2025 at 8:05 PM
At Third Act @thirdactorg.bsky.social we are by definition older Americans. We've seen more stuff than most people.
But we've never seen the president demand the execution of members of Congress.
But we've never seen the president demand the execution of members of Congress.
“He photographed Elvis Presley, on his final tour, at the Hollywood Sportatorium less than six months before he died. … stalked Winston Churchill for an iconic photo on Aristotle Onassis’ yacht, and drew the attention of the Secret Service while aiming a long lens at JFK at the Orange Bowl.”
Lou Toman, a newsman’s newsman who captured life in South Florida in all its intriguing, infamous, glamorous glory for more than a half century as a photographer for the Sun Sentinel and the Fort Lauderdale News, has died at age 90.
Longtime Sun Sentinel photographer ‘Lauderdale Lou’ Toman dies at 90
For more than 50 years, Lou Toman took pictures of “everything,” from Muhammad Ali and Elvis to Winston Churchill and Tillie Tooter.
www.sun-sentinel.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:13 PM
“He photographed Elvis Presley, on his final tour, at the Hollywood Sportatorium less than six months before he died. … stalked Winston Churchill for an iconic photo on Aristotle Onassis’ yacht, and drew the attention of the Secret Service while aiming a long lens at JFK at the Orange Bowl.”
Xmas list.
50 notable works of nonfiction from 2025
The year’s best memoirs, biographies, history and more, as selected by the staff of The Washington Post’s Book World.
wapo.st
November 20, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Xmas list.
Reposted by Jake Cline
“I had been the assistant to the director for less than a year. The important qualification for the job was to have no fear of water. And I did not.” Read “The Fellow” from Joy Williams’ new collection, The Pelican Child.
“The Fellow”
I had been the assistant to the director for less than a year. The important qualification for the job was to have no fear of water. And I did not. Only one thing moved me: the appearance in my hea…
buff.ly
November 18, 2025 at 9:30 PM
“I had been the assistant to the director for less than a year. The important qualification for the job was to have no fear of water. And I did not.” Read “The Fellow” from Joy Williams’ new collection, The Pelican Child.
Reposted by Jake Cline
Hello! I wrote about Joy Williams and her new book for @washingtonpost.com.
Review | At 81, Joy Williams is as good as she’s ever been
The new story collection “The Pelican Child” is her best book since the 2000 novel “The Quick and the Dead.”
wapo.st
November 15, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Hello! I wrote about Joy Williams and her new book for @washingtonpost.com.
Hello! I wrote about Joy Williams and her new book for @washingtonpost.com.
Review | At 81, Joy Williams is as good as she’s ever been
The new story collection “The Pelican Child” is her best book since the 2000 novel “The Quick and the Dead.”
wapo.st
November 15, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Hello! I wrote about Joy Williams and her new book for @washingtonpost.com.
Reposted by Jake Cline
Reposted by Jake Cline
What would the ending of The Godfather be without her face?
October 11, 2025 at 8:48 PM
What would the ending of The Godfather be without her face?
Reposted by Jake Cline
László Krasznahorkai has won the Nobel Prize in Literature!
Read his interview with Hari Kunzru in The Yale Reviewon apocalypse, art, and the urgency of the present—and his short story “An Angel Passed Above Us,” also published in TYR.
yalereview.org/article/l%C3...
Read his interview with Hari Kunzru in The Yale Reviewon apocalypse, art, and the urgency of the present—and his short story “An Angel Passed Above Us,” also published in TYR.
yalereview.org/article/l%C3...
László Krasznahorkai on hope, apocalypse, and his new short story
Hari Kunzru interviews the Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai.
yalereview.org
October 9, 2025 at 11:13 AM
László Krasznahorkai has won the Nobel Prize in Literature!
Read his interview with Hari Kunzru in The Yale Reviewon apocalypse, art, and the urgency of the present—and his short story “An Angel Passed Above Us,” also published in TYR.
yalereview.org/article/l%C3...
Read his interview with Hari Kunzru in The Yale Reviewon apocalypse, art, and the urgency of the present—and his short story “An Angel Passed Above Us,” also published in TYR.
yalereview.org/article/l%C3...
Florida
What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?
October 8, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Florida
Reposted by Jake Cline
Presenting the #BookerPrize2025 shortlist.
Find out more about the books and authors: thebookerprizes.com/bp2025
Find out more about the books and authors: thebookerprizes.com/bp2025
September 23, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Presenting the #BookerPrize2025 shortlist.
Find out more about the books and authors: thebookerprizes.com/bp2025
Find out more about the books and authors: thebookerprizes.com/bp2025
“Ladapo claimed she floated an inch above the ground during a session with a former Navy Seal and self-proclaimed traditional healing guru, whom she said her husband had also seen and had similar experiences with.”
Guided by angels, pursued by chemtrails: the weird world of Florida health chief’s influential wife
Brianna Ladapo, the wife of Florida surgeon general Dr Joseph Ladapo, claims her husband won’t work with anyone she hasn’t vetted
www.theguardian.com
September 13, 2025 at 11:44 PM
“Ladapo claimed she floated an inch above the ground during a session with a former Navy Seal and self-proclaimed traditional healing guru, whom she said her husband had also seen and had similar experiences with.”
Reposted by Jake Cline
National Book Award longlist!
September 12, 2025 at 1:08 PM
National Book Award longlist!
Reposted by Jake Cline
It’s remarkable how many (white) pundits I hear talking about where we’re at without mentioning racism as the obvious thread that runs through all of this.
They haven’t learned a damn thing.
They haven’t learned a damn thing.
September 8, 2025 at 4:07 PM
It’s remarkable how many (white) pundits I hear talking about where we’re at without mentioning racism as the obvious thread that runs through all of this.
They haven’t learned a damn thing.
They haven’t learned a damn thing.
Reposted by Jake Cline
A review of a nonfiction book should be a review of the book, not 90 percent the reviewer's own personal take on the subject matter, using another writer's published work as a pretext to summarize the book that *they* would have written.
September 8, 2025 at 2:40 PM
A review of a nonfiction book should be a review of the book, not 90 percent the reviewer's own personal take on the subject matter, using another writer's published work as a pretext to summarize the book that *they* would have written.
Reposted by Jake Cline
A huge moment -- Melvyn Bragg steps down from In Our Time after over a quarter of a century. What a programme and what a legacy! Just a model for how to make great, clever, engaging radio, and a twenty-seven-year experiment that proves there's a huge global audience for smart, scholarly programming.
Melvyn Bragg decides to step down from presenting In Our Time
After 26 years on the programme, the legendary presenter bids farewell to the series
www.bbc.co.uk
September 3, 2025 at 10:48 AM
A huge moment -- Melvyn Bragg steps down from In Our Time after over a quarter of a century. What a programme and what a legacy! Just a model for how to make great, clever, engaging radio, and a twenty-seven-year experiment that proves there's a huge global audience for smart, scholarly programming.
Reposted by Jake Cline
Any other lyrics— don’t even try chronic town murmur or reckoning btw— just form vowels and syllables, and mean it
September 3, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Any other lyrics— don’t even try chronic town murmur or reckoning btw— just form vowels and syllables, and mean it
Reposted by Jake Cline
The whole album is about 🔥 , about everything you think about 🔥 as being: cleansing, something that destroys everything in its path. It’s an element that’s everywhere; the metaphorical & allegorical interpretations of 🔥 are endless.” M. Stipe
Happy anniversary to Document, released on 8.31.1987
Happy anniversary to Document, released on 8.31.1987
August 31, 2025 at 2:05 PM
The whole album is about 🔥 , about everything you think about 🔥 as being: cleansing, something that destroys everything in its path. It’s an element that’s everywhere; the metaphorical & allegorical interpretations of 🔥 are endless.” M. Stipe
Happy anniversary to Document, released on 8.31.1987
Happy anniversary to Document, released on 8.31.1987
It’s this Bob Dylan tour rehearsal at a Fort Lauderdale nightclub in 1995.
August 29, 2025 at 12:28 AM
It’s this Bob Dylan tour rehearsal at a Fort Lauderdale nightclub in 1995.
Reposted by Jake Cline
Hard to think of a clearer declaration of dictatorship than "the Crooked game of politics is over"
these people just fundamentally believe that only they have the legitimate right to political power www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trump-make...
August 21, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Hard to think of a clearer declaration of dictatorship than "the Crooked game of politics is over"
“This is a hostile act by the state government against the city of Orlando. The city did not consent to this. They did not approve of this. This is a city road, not a state road. And so at this point, the state of Florida has vandalized city property.”
A rainbow crosswalk was removed overnight outside of Pulse nightclub in Orlando, one of the most significant LGBTQ sites in Florida, as state and federal transportation officials aim to wipe “political banners” from public streets.
Rainbow crosswalk outside Pulse nightclub removed overnight
“We did everything according to state law, everything was compliant,” said Patty Sheehan, the city’s first openly gay elected official. “FDOT never moves that quickly with anything.R…
www.sun-sentinel.com
August 21, 2025 at 2:55 PM
“This is a hostile act by the state government against the city of Orlando. The city did not consent to this. They did not approve of this. This is a city road, not a state road. And so at this point, the state of Florida has vandalized city property.”
Reposted by Jake Cline
Ten days later and I was still fuming over some really wrongheaded characterizations of book criticism on this website, so I blogged about it: americanorphan.substack.com/p/what-is-bo...
What is book criticism for?
On why thinking of reviews as ads or mere opinions shortchanges literary culture
americanorphan.substack.com
August 20, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Ten days later and I was still fuming over some really wrongheaded characterizations of book criticism on this website, so I blogged about it: americanorphan.substack.com/p/what-is-bo...
Checking out the Erin swell on Surfline …
August 20, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Checking out the Erin swell on Surfline …
Belle and Sebastian are playing Miami (and my workplace) in May.
August 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Belle and Sebastian are playing Miami (and my workplace) in May.