Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About crystalclear

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Crystalclear can usually think of something clever to say, except when she can't. She has a giant stack of unread books at home but will always find an excuse to buy/acquire/borrow another one. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: crystalclear's Quick Questions interview.)

crystalclear's Reviews:

I was not as entertained as many were

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

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Don Tillman is a genetics professor at a university in Australia who has decided that it is time to find a wife.  He has tried dating before to disastrous results, and stumbles upon the idea that a questionnaire will help mitigate the disasters.  He asks a fellow professor and friend, Gene, to help him. Gene is a notorious playboy, trying to sleep with women from as many countries as possible.  He is also an ass for not seeing that the “open marriage” he has with […]

The name I can never spell right on the first try

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

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This was a book I was sure I had read, because I feel like it’s been around forever.  Nope! 2003. (Maybe I saw the movie in 2008?) It feels like an older book as well. So if the author was going for a classic feel, she got it!  There is the story, but sometimes the author asks questions of the reader, often with vocabulary. Good for reading with a group!   The book is set up in four sections.  In the first part, we meet […]

This review has been inspired by the Thug Notes “Pride and Prejudice” episode. Also, spoilers.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

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So we have our girl Catherine Morland, one of ten Morland siblings.  She’s the son of a preacher man, so that’s cool. She starts out life as a tomboy, but gets over that by the time she turns fifteen.  Now seventeen, she gets to go on a sweet vacation to Bath with her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Allen. Mr. Allen is going for his gout, and Mrs. Allen wants Catherine to go for company.  I suppose Mrs. Allen also knows that going on a six-week […]

Not what I was expecting

No Ivy League by Hazel Newlevant

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This… was not what I was expecting.  With a title like this, I was assuming this was going to involve prestigious colleges.  Not even close. I picked this ARC up at BookCon this year. I went to the publisher, Lion Forge, because I wanted to get a ticket for Mooncakes the next day.  (Which I got. Woohoo!) They still had tickets for this, so I figured, “Why not?” This is a graphic novel memoir about a summer in the life of author Hazel Newlevant.  She […]

What’s your book about? Stuff.

Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik

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This book is meant to make you think about all the stuff that surrounds you.  Not the clutter, but the stuff that that clutter is made of. The metal in your chair, the cloth of your clothes, the paper of the book you’re reading.  We take the materials in our world largely for granted, but there was a lot of time and effort put in to discovering and inventing all of the materials that we encounter in our daily lives.  The book is divided into […]

Neat.

A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs by Ben Garrod

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Ok, so I just finished listening to this today (when I wrote this review, which is actually being posted months later).  These are the things I remember from the audiobook. To be fair, I was listening on my commute to work, so some distraction from listening is to be expected, you know, because I was driving a vehicle.    Thing 1: Part of what makes a dinosaur a dinosaur has to do with the hips.  Dinosaurs evolved to have their hips configured in a way […]



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