I first fell for the Waverly Family in Allen’s debut novel, “Garden Spells.” Small town living, sisters, baking, luuurv, and a magical apple tree that throws apples at innocent bystanders. What’s not to love? I knew that the sequel would be a good read for the winter time, something light fluffy, and a little warm for the cold days, and it delivered. The Waverly sisters have both made their way home and are living happy lives. The book picks up about 10 years after the […]
Slow Food. Any idea what I am talking about?
This book came across my radar as it was the January pick for the Slow Food Chicago Book Club. I’ll let the Slow Food International website speak for itself: “Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us.” In sum, Slow Food is the […]
Good book for the new year. Sort of.
I have been a fan of Nick Hornby since I read “High Fidelity.” I came at it after having seen the film, and they can both really standalone as solid entertainment. I later read “About a Boy” and enjoyed that as well, so this is my third Hornby, and I liked it just as much as the first two. The subject matter could be a bit of a downer, especially for this time of year, but it really just depends on your perspective. I have […]
Practically Practical Magic
Sarah Addison Allen is a delight. A little backstory regarding my first reading selection of the new year: I just moved from the balmy south to the chilly Midwest and am experiencing my first real winter in about 8 years. I reached out to the Cannonball Read hive mind for reads that would either raise my spirits (light and fluffy things to warm my heart) or create a sense of schadenfreude (people having miserable winters, or miserable life happenings) and someone mentioned Allen, who was […]
Half Cannonball: Complete! With a bit of French fiction.
I had the lucky opportunity to be in Paris for work and visited one of my favorite bookshops in the world, Shakespeare and Company, and came upon this little gem. This novel was compared to “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” which I had read with my book club and enjoyed, so I figured it was fate. I thought this was going to be more of a fluff book, but it actually took much darker turns that I anticipated. It was a very quick read, perfect […]
The Girl on the Train: got off one stop too early
I’d heard (mostly) good things about Paula Hawkins’ thriller and was excited for a mystery to round out my year. (Only one book left to my half cannonball, and hopefully enough time to eek out a victory!). I chose to tackle this one as an audiobook, and it worked very well in this format, though I can’t give a completely enthusiastic report; Hawkins ran out of steam and the pay-off at the end fell flat. Each chapter jumps around to the perspective of the three […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- …
- 81
- Next Page »