Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About esme

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Loves to read. Loves to travel. Doesn't get to do either enough.

esme's Reviews:

Cover of Tana French's The Searcher

“He wants to punch something, but he knows that would do nothing but bust his knuckles. Having that much sense makes him feel old.”

The Searcher by Tara French

July 22, 2022 by esme 1 Comment

So this is the first time I am participating in Bingo and I am so excited! I love the card and I have finished a few books, so I am ready to go…. I was out of the ‘mystery’ frame of mind for some time. I think, for a while, I was concerned that many mystery series that I enjoyed portrayed police officers in a way that didn’t sit well with me given so much police inaction and violent action around the US, where I […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: cbr14bingo, Fiction, Ireland, mystery, rooks, Tara French

esme's CBR14 Review No:6 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: cbr14bingo, Fiction, Ireland, mystery, rooks, Tara French ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

“He had light enough to make heroes of them all.”

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

June 6, 2022 by esme 2 Comments

I knew how this was going to end – of course I did – and yet I went willingly with Patroclus and Achilles towards their doom and my ugly crying. I may have mentioned in earlier reviews that I have trouble slowing down and savoring books, but I was in luck with this gorgeous book because my child and husband were camping and canoeing in the Boundary Waters, so I had a glorious week to nibble at this book and delight in turns of phrase, […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Fiction, greek mythology, madeline miller, Romance

esme's CBR14 Review No:5 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Fiction, greek mythology, madeline miller, Romance ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

I would live your life so much better than you, if I had your face.

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

June 2, 2022 by esme Leave a Comment

If I Had Your Face is a first novel, and it shows. Frances Cha follows four (or maybe five) young women in Seoul as they try to keep their heads above water. They live in a boarding house and have slowly reached out to each other over time. There’s an artist, an entertainer in a ‘room salon,’ a mute hairdresser, her friend who is obsessed with extreme plastic surgery, and a pregnant lady downstairs who initially looks down on these women, but eventually seeks their […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Fiction, Frances Cha, friendship, Korean culture

esme's CBR14 Review No:4 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Fiction, Frances Cha, friendship, Korean culture ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Longing for the sound of an electric guitar

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

May 26, 2022 by esme Leave a Comment

I finally put this on my reading list after one of the CBR13 happy hours. Someone mentioned that Emily St. John Mandel had a new book coming out that they were looking forward to, and somehow I pulled that thread and made my way back to Station Eleven. I had been aware of it before that conversation, yet the blurb had never struck my fancy, likely because I have a very complicated relationship with dystopian fiction. Frankly, and as has been noted on this site […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Suspense Tagged With: dystopia, Emily St. John Mandel, Fiction, public health

esme's CBR14 Review No:3 · Genres: Fiction, Suspense · Tags: dystopia, Emily St. John Mandel, Fiction, public health ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

May 4, 2022 by esme 2 Comments

I was in the mood for escape and The Folk of the Air series really delivered for me. It is a flawed series, and I’ll mention a bit of that as I look at the individual books, but I found it a delicious treat at the end of some pretty long days. The Cruel Prince, the first book in the series, introduces us to Jude, Taryn, Vivienne, Cardan, and other key players who feature throughout the trilogy. Jude, Taryn, and Vivi are children when we […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: #fantasy, Fiction, Holly Black, YA

esme's CBR14 Review No:2 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: #fantasy, Fiction, Holly Black, YA ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

“Archer…dressed in the evening because he thought it cleaner and more comfortable to do so”

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

March 8, 2022 by esme 9 Comments

This is my first review of the year. I have been reading a lot, and enjoying what I read, but I’m just not ready to think about what I read. I was partway through The Age of Innocence when I realized this was a re-read, though from a decade or so ago. We meet Newland Archer (what a name!), a New York society gentleman in his early 20s, as he mostly sleepwalks through society – getting engaged to an appropriate ingénue, moving from home to […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Edith Wharton, Fiction, historical fiction

esme's CBR14 Review No:1 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Edith Wharton, Fiction, historical fiction ·
Rating:
· 9 Comments
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