andtheIToldYouSos – Page 15 – Cannonball Read 17

Nothing to Love Here

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

January 16, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

This book came highly recommended, but it failed to ignite my interest. I had been looking forward to it for some time: a big-shot political family with black-sheep children who literally catch on fire when upset? Sounds fun! Except…that’s not the story. It’s the story of a fuck-up (her words) obsessed with another fuck-up of great wealth and privilege. It’s an ugly story about ugly people with some children (who do happen to catch fire when upset) caught in the middle. Listening to this book […]

“On her First Holy Communion, Majella could remember sitting in the chapel for a long time, with Jesus stuck to the roof of her mouth, and her trying to peel him off with her tongue. Somehow she knew picking him off with her finger was all wrong.”

Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen

January 16, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Majella is the queen of coping; she has developed a system of avoiding eye contact, she gladly relies on years-long joke exchanges orchestrated by her customers and coworkers, and she is clear about people explaining idioms and small-town customs to her as a needed relief. She is also coping with the world around her; her uncle “died for the cause”, her IRA-adjacent father disappeared years ago, her mother is lost in a haze of whiskey, and her beloved grandmother has recently been beaten to death. […]

It Runs in the Family

Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman

Can You Feel This? by Julie Orringer

The Lion's Den by Anthony Marra

Zenith Man by Jennifer Haigh

The Weddings by Alexander Chee

January 13, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Another year, another onslaught of bits and bobs to keep me from sitting down and giving my undivided attention to a hefty book! Everything My Mother Taught Me 3/5 Dang it Alice Hoffman, misadventures at lighthouses are my catnip! Lighthouse Keeper was my dream job when I was younger- big thanks to Ahab’s Wife- it’s a lonesome and perilous career but also pretty cool! I was a huge Hoffman fan in high school, but I drifted away over the last 15 years or so. I dipped […]

Started November 12th. Finished January 12th. The breaks in reading were NECESSARY

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

January 12, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos 7 Comments

…but the journey was worth it. This book is brutal. If you are sensitive at all to suffering- be it human, animal, generational, cultural- turn away now and do not look back. Four Blackfeet men engage in a bit of last-minute less-than-legal Elk hunting the weekend before Thanksgiving. What happens that day never really leaves them, but what they left behind comes rocketing back into their lives 10 years later. The 10 years since that day have not been easy; the men are plagued by […]

monologuing at the mouth of madness

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell

January 11, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

A strong opening pulls us directly into the spooky fold; a seamstress with a secret hurls herself from a very important man’s very high attic window. The House on Vesper Sands has all of the hallmarks of a Victorian throw-back; mazes of manners, decrepit mansions, and gin-soaked police populate a scuzzy world of destitute working girls, complicated family histories, and genteel young men all-aflutter. The Spiritualist movement is in full-swing and a cloaked and creepy group of “Spiriters” may be responsible for a rash of […]

“Disinformation, which is the same as lying but for some reason has a different name, is the top tactic in corporate negotiation/warfare.”

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

January 8, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos 11 Comments

AHHHH, YOU DON’T SAY?! That phrase hit me this morning while I was failing to get ready for work in a timely manner- I was listening to this book, brushing my teeth, scrolling through twitter, and BAM. I’m pretty sure I heard that same sentiment expressed several times over while stress-watching the entire certification process on Wednesday night/ Thursday morning after, you know, homegrown terrorists were allowed to run amok in the Capitol. Lies are still flying fast and furious, and it becomes more and […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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