Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About esmemoria

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Eager to get back on the horse this year! In my walking around life, I miss my old, blind pug (the Ancient Mariner), help amazing college students become teachers, and tie an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: esmemoria's Quick Questions interview.)

esmemoria's Reviews:

“Never say you know the last word about any human heart”

Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales by P.D. James

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CBR Bingo 13 – Libations The version of P.D. James’s Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales I read has chocolates in tidy rows on the cover. Needless too say, they are used to murderous effect. Years ago, a colleague of mine told me he had met P.D. James at a reading. He said she was very regal and went into detail about how she comported herself. This came to mind as I read Sleep No More. She sounded like a character in one of her […]

“Just Getting Along Shouldn’t Be an Ambition”

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

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CBR 13 Bingo: UnCannon Sometimes I read a book that is so deep it’s hard to put it into words for other people to understand. The only response is a directive: “You should read this.” This is how I feel about Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric. Rankine’s book is about not just her experience as a Black woman—although it is that as well—but what it’s like to be Black in a racist world, though that is a reductive summary that doesn’t do justice to […]

This is Not a Review

American Predator by Maureen Callahan

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For most of my life, I’ve been interested in true crime. I’ve read many books and watched many shows about crime. I probably own hundreds of videos on Amazon about criminal cases. My exposure to crime happened very early in my life. I could read at a very young age, which meant I would sometimes read things I didn’t or couldn’t understand. I remember being terrified of someone shooting me or my family out of the blue. I realized years later it was because I […]

Rose is Rose is Rose is Rose

The World is Round by Gertrude Stein

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The top was further because she was so near she could not see which way it was. I have always been intimidated by Gertrude Stein. A modernist, she held salons in Paris with famous writers and artists of the day. I may have picked up a book or two of hers to scan and been scared off by her unique writing. Which is why I felt some trepidation when I picked up her book The World is Round. The book is ostensibly a children’s book, […]

Unsavory Lamb

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

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cbr13bingo / Shelfie Sitting on my shelf for many a year, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal is a humorous and disappointing novel about Jesus’ life by Christopher Moore. Jesus’ childhood friend Biff—born Levi—is resurrected and commanded by a soap-opera loving angel to write an account of Jesus’ life before the age of 30. Biff is indignant that he is never mentioned in the New Testament and strives to fill out the missing story. Jesus—called Joshua in the book—is an adolescent when the […]

How Do I Love Edward Gorey? Let Me Count the Ways

The Gashleycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey

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M is for Maud who was swept out to sea N is for Neville who died from ennui To say I love Edward Gorey is an understatement. I was introduced to his dark, hilarious drawings by an aunt who gave me a copy of The Doubtful Guest when I was about 12 years old. She was my favorite aunt; she always gave me gifts that didn’t condescend to my young age. At the time she gave me my first Gorey book, I didn’t really understand […]



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