AnnaCollier – Page 4 – Cannonball Read 17

Well, This Was Unexpectedly Relevant

How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France

April 21, 2020 by AnnaCollier Leave a Comment

It was a very odd feeling to be reading a book called “How to Survive a Plague” as the US began closing down to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Covering the time from 1981, when a cluster of gay men in New York city were diagnosed with a rare cancer, to 1996, when effective drug treatments were eventually developed, How to Survive a Plague is a comprehensive history of the AIDS crisis, focusing on the dual roles of scientists and activists in finding a cure. […]

We Love You…Well, Some of Us Do

We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge

March 20, 2020 by AnnaCollier Leave a Comment

Is there anything more satisfying than finding someone who shares your unpopular opinions? I’ll get to We Love You, Charlie Freeman in just a bit, but let me back up for a minute. About a year ago, I read Miriam Toews’s All My Puny Sorrows and fell in love with it. All My Puny Sorrows is so beautiful and funny and tragic, and the characters feel both universal and totally unique at the same time. I loved the book so much that as soon as I […]

An Updated Country House Mystery

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

March 12, 2020 by AnnaCollier 2 Comments

Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party tells the story of a group of old college friends getting together for a New Year’s celebration at a remote lodge in the Scottish Highlands. The group includes four couples (one with a baby in tow), and one single woman. The group largely orbits around the glamorous Miranda, but various members have their own histories and conflicts. There is a mysterious Icelandic couple staying at the lodge as well. As the old friends drink, celebrate, and reminisce, and snow starts […]

Just in Time for Oscars Night!

Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris

February 8, 2020 by AnnaCollier 3 Comments

Mark Harris’s Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood tells the story of the five films nominated for Best Picture of 1967 at that year’s Academy Awards: Bonnie and Clyde, Doctor Dolittle, The Graduate, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and In the Heat of the Night. This book was recommended on a recent episode of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast, so I decided to check it out, despite the fact that I had only seen one of the […]

Moving Beyond Black and White: An Immigrant’s Perspective on Race in the United States

Not Quite Not White: Losing and Finding Race in America by Sharmila Sen

February 8, 2020 by AnnaCollier 2 Comments

Not Quite Not White: Losing and Finding Race in America is a memoir written by Sharmila Sen, an Indian American woman and professor of English at Harvard University. The book is short (under 200 pages) and divided into five chapters. The first chapter is a brief prologue which talks broadly about what it means to be an immigrant, focusing on issues of race and anger (particularly the pressure to hide one’s anger, concealing it behind a façade of smiles and jokes). Chapter 1 describes her […]

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.

About AnnaCollier