Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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CoffeeShopReader's Reviews:

Last Square for the Blackout! Also, a great Halloween read.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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Last Bingo: Reader’s Choice to cover “Two Heads are Better than One” I’ve been seeing Gideon The Ninth hyped all over social media for months, and it sounded really cool and interesting. To cite the blurb across the front cover: “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!”  This is actually a largely accurate description of the premise: the immortal Emperor sends out a message to the nobles (ie- necromancers) of each of the 9 Houses in this universe to send their strongest necromancer-heir […]

Fantastic Fantasy Fun

The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman

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Bingo 24 (I love this) The Invisible Library series is just plain fun fantasy, with a sprinkle of literary humor. The basic premise is an extra-dimensional library where rare books from all over the various worlds and realms are kept. The Librarians who work there often go to great lengths to acquire new titles or versions, including theft and adventure of various sorts. The Library is supposed to keep balance in the universe, especially between the forces of Chaos (the Fey) and natural Order (the […]

If you’re going to ban Harry Potter, at least come up with a better reason

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

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Bingo 23 Banned Book The Harry Potter series has been challenged for many things including glorifying witchcraft, encouraging bad behavior like disobeying rules and lying, and for being un-Christian. This recent ban though is almost laughable, but it did make the international news (click for link): Reverend Dan Reehill, head St Edward Catholic School in Nashville, Tennessee, apparently decided that the spells presented in the series were real. He supposedly consulted the Vatican on this, and had the books removed from his school library so […]

No mothers, no food

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal

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Bingo 22 (Not My Wheelhouse) I don’t do well with contemporary fiction or modern literary fiction as a rule, but when Kitchens of the Great Midwest showed up in the 50% off bin at an indie bookstore I’m fond of, I decided to take a chance. The book then sat on my shelf for eight months. I picked it up to address the Not My Wheelhouse Bingo square. I was hoping this might be a rare exception to my bad luck with best-sellers off the […]

Grown-Up Me May Have Overthought Things in Places but Wins in the End

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

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Bingo 21 (Back to School) I remember in elementary school being mightily impressed by From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler, but have no memory of what it was I liked or why I’d had to read the book in the first place. I suspect it was likely for a book report or reading hours. I kind of remember now upon a re-read over two decades later, in spite of some reactions to characters and situations that are likely the grown-up in me, […]

An addition to the Question of Who Wrote Shakespeare

Seven Shakespeare by Harold Sakuishi

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Bingo 20 (History/Schmistory) This is actually a review of 9 books, sort of. Seven Shakespeares turned out to be a lot more interesting than I thought. The premise sounded simple: a re-imagined version of how William Shakespeare become the household name that he has been since about 1600. I was pretty impressed by the degree of historical accuracy in the world, in that a lot of real Londoners involved in the theatre scene appear, as do a lot of real elements of Renaissance London beyond […]



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