Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About elderberrywine

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Elder LOTR/Holmes fan girl/writer since forever.

elderberrywine's Reviews:

Weird Set-up, Great Story

Below the Salt by Thomas B. Costain

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cbr14 lion I was so sure this had been made into a movie (starring Walter Pigeon, I was guessing) back in the 50s, but no. apparently not.  But it has such an odd plot structure I suspect Costain had his hopes. So we have elderly retired Senator Richard O’Rawn, Lion of the West, summoning young John Foraday to his vast Wyoming ranch on mysterious business.  John is a promising writer, and apparently indirectly connected with the Senator.  Turns out the Senator wants to take him […]

Calling All Word Nerds

The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got that Way by Bill Bryson

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cbr category Question If you can draw one conclusion from this book, it could be that the English language, possibly more than any other, delights in being silly.  There is simply no other excuse for so many British town names, such as Great Snoring and Farleigh Wallop.  American English is no slouch in this department although one suspects its choice are more deliberate, such as Peeled Chestnut, Tennessee; What Cheer, Iowa; and Maggie’s Nipples, Wyoming. But the richness of the many various forms of English […]

And Wait. Weren’t We Just Here?

The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson

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cbr category time So this one was ordered from the library, from my decades long, very long list of Books To Order from the library, and hell if I know why.  Usually I can see fifteen-years-younger me might have wanted to read it, but not this one.  Because apocalyptic drama is not my thing, and that’s exactly what this was. The Stone Gods is written in sections that continue to circle back, or as the author puts it, “a repeating world”.  And the world is […]

Perry Mason without a courtroom in sight. This is a total trip.

The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito - Perry Mason #23 by Erle Stanley Gardener

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cbr square series Well, now, it’s been a minute, hasn’t it?  Man, I love this series, and this one, #23, was just plain fun.  Not a courtroom in sight, and instead of Paul Drake putting in a bit of sleuthing footwork for Perry, he gets to be bait.  A good time was had by all. Banning Clarke and Salty Bowers are a pair of prospectors, seeking lost gold mines in Southern California. (Ahahaha, sure, boys.)  But Banning got mixed up with a wealthy dame (now […]

Saucy and Creepy – Who Can Ask for More?

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

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cbr square – Scandal In 1785, Jonah Hancock, an unremarkable middle aged widower, receives strange news from his partner and captain of his trading vessel.  Instead of returning to London with a full ship of spices from the Far East, his partner has traded the whole shipment, ship and all, for a mermaid.  At least that is what he claims it to be.  It is nothing like those in the fables, however, being a fierce deformed little monster, and quite deceased.  But it ends up […]

Peace like a river flows

Farm: A Year in the Life of an American Farmer by Richard Rhodes

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Bingo category – Mind Farm is the accounting of a year on a family farm in central Missouri.  Tom, Sally, and their children raise corn, soybeans, and hogs on this farm, which is actually a patchwork of smaller farms.  The year is mid-1980s, so there are the Reagan/Clinton farm policies to be dealt with, as well as issues such as how the land can be plowed, what to do about storage if there isn’t enough, and the ever temperamental weather situation.  The fact is that […]



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