Jake Cline
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jakecline.bsky.social
Jake Cline
@jakecline.bsky.social
Writer, editor, book critic. Bylines, etc., at jakecline.net. I live in Miami.
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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
Reposted by Jake Cline
Austin
October 18, 2025 at 7:40 PM
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What would the ending of The Godfather be without her face?
October 11, 2025 at 8:48 PM
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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...
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
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
Reposted by Jake Cline
Presenting the #BookerPrize2025 shortlist.

Find out more about the books and authors: thebookerprizes.com/bp2025
September 23, 2025 at 6:56 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.”
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
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National Book Award longlist!
September 12, 2025 at 1:08 PM
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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.
September 8, 2025 at 4:07 PM
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
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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
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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
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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
August 31, 2025 at 2:05 PM
It’s this Bob Dylan tour rehearsal at a Fort Lauderdale nightclub in 1995.
August 29, 2025 at 12:28 AM
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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
“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.&#82…
www.sun-sentinel.com
August 21, 2025 at 2:55 PM
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
Checking out the Erin swell on Surfline …
August 20, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Belle and Sebastian are playing Miami (and my workplace) in May.
August 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
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The surest way to get on someone’s bad side in Miami is to serve them a Cuban sandwich with salami.

Bon Appétit magazine asked me why that is.

For their upcoming issue, I wrote about the “three Floridas” that claim the sandwich. @bonappetit.bsky.social www.bonappetit.com/story/best-c...
The Best Cuban Sandwiches in Miami
Miamians are passionate about what makes the perfect Cuban sandwich. Here are eight places that get it right.
www.bonappetit.com
August 19, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Reposted by Jake Cline
A press conference this morning with the Governor, AG, and Commissioner might bring new details on plans to spend taxpayer dollars appealing this ruling, but for now, we continue to celebrate this affirmation of First Amendment rights for Floridians.

www.cfpublic.org/education/20...
Federal judge overturns large part of Florida’s book ban law
The judge ruled the law is unconstitutional as it infringes on the First Amendment rights of students.
www.cfpublic.org
August 19, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Jake Cline
The death of book reviews is not greatly exaggerated, but it’s greatly protracted. This time, the bell tolls for book reviews from the Associated Press. Readers of papers across the country won’t see reviews syndicated from the AP after Aug. 31. (More below)
s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?tra...
Book Club: Kate Riley’s ‘Ruth’ finds wit and wonder in a closed world
s2.washingtonpost.com
August 15, 2025 at 5:44 PM
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KISS is getting a Kennedy Center honor... maybe the single funniest decision any president has ever made
August 13, 2025 at 3:49 PM
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Every so often, everything makes sense: but not in a way that I can understand.
August 13, 2025 at 3:55 PM