Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Fiat.Luxury's Reviews:

Sometimes the stories we know are actually just the footnotes in another (better) story.

Circe by Madeline Miller

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I picked this up because I was seeing it evvvvverywherrrre.  I had low expectations because I am a contrarian and, in general, I don’t trust people’s opinions of books (except for Pajiba readers’, of course.)  But this book was so good!  It immediately became my new buy-it-for-everybody’s-birthday book. First, this book has it all: mythology, complex heroines, curses, potions, love, betrayal, exotic lands, gods and humans, bloodshed, magic, and monsters.  It also has an awesome female protagonist, “empowered” in the best way, by which I […]

A long, long whodunnit

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

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Firstly:  650 pages is too long.  I know you’re J.K. Rowling, but sometimes you still need an editor! That said, I enjoyed this book and stayed up late to finish it.  If you like the others in this series, you will probably like this one!  Convoluted mystery: check.  So many characters: check.  Plenty of red herrings: check.  Strike – Robin relationship tension: check. The book picks up with Robin’s wedding to Matthew.   For those of you who have read the previous books, don’t worry: Matthew […]

A Harlem Love Story

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

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I’d never read any Baldwin before, but he kept coming up in conversations, books, and of course, movies.  I took it as a sign that it was time to read some James Baldwin, and I thought I’d start with If Beale Street Could Talk, just to get to it before the movie, which looks great. First, in case there was any doubt: Baldwin can write.  The construction of the narrative, the careful plotting, the realistic dialogue, the direct but poignant tone.  It was just … […]

Those crawdads gonna need to sing a little louder

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

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…to drown out this terrible dialogue. But before we get to that, let’s start with the good. Warning: this post contains ALL the spoilers! The first half of this book is beautiful, moody, and gorgeously written. The marsh is described so lovingly, so well, and the family dynamics felt so authentic. Kya’s transition from little sister with a troubled family to nature child was described with a sort of reverence for Nature that I found compelling. Her relationship with Jumpin’ and Mabel was sweet, and […]

It’s 90 degrees here. This made it feel like winter.

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I read TheShitWizard’s review and immediately bought this book, read it, and loved it.  I am all about some adult-level fairy tales.  This is right up my alley. Vasya is a wild child, the fifth in her family, in Northern Russia.  She inherited her mother’s and grandmother’s second sight – the ability to see and interact with the invisible guardians, or chyerti.  A battle is brewing, though, between the Bear and the Frost-Demon.  Konstantin, a compelling and pious priest arrives in the village and introduces […]

Why are we born, if not to help each other?

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Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if […]



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