Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About jomidi

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Lover of libraries and books. Author groupie.

jomidi's Reviews:

What would you do to protect your child?

All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

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I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book.  I don’t read lots of these psychological thrillers.  However, this one surprised me.  It is well written and nuanced, lots of layers that unfold.  The story is about a 15 year old girl who is raped and receives a drug to erase her memories of the trauma, an interesting premise.  The story is told by the psychologist who is treating her to help her remember enough to get past the trauma. But that isn’t the real story, […]

A Light Fun Read

Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman

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I love Elinor Lipman. Her books are always fun, light, and a quick read. My favorite one is The Pursuit of Alice Thrift, I think Good Riddance is now my second favorite! The book is especially timely as it starts with a twenty-something named Daphne “Marie Kondo-ing” her belongings by dumping into the recycling the 1968 yearbook her mother had left her. This yearbook was special to her mother as it was dedicated to her, at the time a young, new teacher who was also […]

The Life of a Home As Told by the Ghost that Haunts It

The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

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I want to start by saying I loved this book. It was a wonderful journey through time as you see the inhabitants of a British country estate over the course of 150 years. It is beautifully written. The characters are well drawn. The interactions between characters over the years is wonderful. The plot is tight and I loved the various surprises, including the mysterious location of the priceless blue stone. I have not read any Kate Morton books before. I met her at a book […]

An Immigrant’s Story

Of Monkey Bridges and Bánh Mì Sandwiches: from Sài Gòn to Texas by Oanh Ngo Usadi

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This charming memoir tells Oanh’s story of her family’s journey from Vietnam to Texas. She starts with her life back in Vietnam as a child running along monkey bridges in an orchard in the Mekong Delta, where her family was exiled after the war. Her family has some unsuccessful attempts to get out of Vietnam, but like other “boat people” they eventually succeed. She explains the immigration process back then through the eyes of a child, a stark contrast to the process today and the […]

Are you Extraordinary?

Vicious by V. E. Schwab

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I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down once I started reading it. Schwab is a great author (wrote the Shades of Magic series set in multiple parallel Londons). I believe this is one of her older books which recently was republished in the US. The idea is that some people are EOs – extraordinary – have a “superpower” that resulted from a near-death experience. The powers are varied – healing, controlling people, raising the dead, etc. College roommates Victor and Eli set out […]

Palaces for the People

Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg

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I really, really wanted to love this book. Nobody loves libraries more than I do and this book is supposed to be a strong argument for supporting public libraries. I wanted to read and love this book and recommend it to everybody who doesn’t support their local library. The book discusses the importance of social infrastructure, those things like parks and libraries that bring neighbors together. Klinenberg argues that social infrastructure is what makes people survive in times of crisis (like the big Chicago heat […]



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