Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Archives for December 2021

Across the Sea

The Turquoise Lament by John D. Macdonald

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Linda Lewellyn Brindle, “Pidge” to all her friends, has certainly grown up since the days of her wildly inappropriate teenage crush on her father’s friend Travis McGee. After her father’s untimely death she inherited a fortune, married a football player and took off on a journey around the world in her sailboat. When she calls McGee from Hawaii saying she’s in trouble he drops everything to help. It turns out life isn’t as dreamy as it sounds. Either Pidge’s husband is trying to kill her […]

That OTHER Christmas Story

Matthew 1-2 by Godtopus

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Happy Holidays <or insert your choice of holiday greeting here> from South Louisiana! Coming to you live this holiday season from a street cleared of debris from Hurricane Ida just in time for someone to literally coat their front yard in inflatables and lights.  I have so many questions: how many extension cords are involved? Do they buy new lights every year or fight the battle to untangle the old ones? More importantly, WHERE DO THEY STORE ALL OF THAT? It’s not like we have […]

She had been meant to die, yet she’d cut her way out of that fate and back to the world she loved.

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey

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With this review, I will finish my 1/4 CBR, so I am feeling very proud right now! I read The Widows of Malabar Hill some time ago – I mentioned sitting by the side of a lake in northern North Dakota in a previous review, and that is where I read this, as well. However, I had read quite a bit by Sujata Massey before – she had a series about a biracial detective, Rei Shimura, which often featured travel to Japan, and had pretty […]

Before Harry Potter, There was Diana Wynne Jones

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci: Vol. I Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci: Vol I The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones

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I was reminded of Diana Wynne Jones when reading Gaiman’s The View from the Cheap Seats. I had a vague recollection of knowing her name, and decided to go check out her work. It turns out, I was a huge Jones fan as a child and just didn’t know it. I read several of her books in elementary and middle school, and aside from my father reading Lord of the Rings to me, Jones’ work was one of my first real introductions to fantasy. My library had The […]

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year INDEED, Rebecca Gulka!

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Hooray for amazing book exchanges, and incredibly wonderful virtual friends sending incredible books.  I cannot WAIT to dig into these two books!  Rebecca Gulka, you lovely tropical fish, I cannot thank you enough!  And, as always, many thanks to the remarkable FaintingViolet for her generosity of spirit setting this all up (and dealing with my annoying questions).  Hugs to you all! 

When something feels ethically wrong language is a good place to look for clues to why.

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

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Amanda Montell is a language scholar who takes her readers on a trip through social history using linguistics. I read and enjoyed Montell’s Wordslut two years ago, and in her second book, Cultish, Montell is interested in examining the edges of our culture that can exhibit some unhealthy habits by examining the way language is used in them, and that is the kind of thing I am going to sign up for every time.   Utilizing both storytelling and independent research Montell exposes the linguistic elements that make a wide spectrum of […]



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