Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About wicherwill

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She/her. Longtime lurker, goodreads addict :D (Learn more about this Cannonballer: wicherwill's Quick Questions interview.)

wicherwill's Reviews:

I really, really don’t like giving books bad reviews

The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer

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Sigh I really don’t like giving books negative reviews but I found myself endlessly infuriated by the decisions that characters made in this novel, in a way that I think is not because of ‘unlikability’ or anything but more to do with confusing writing and pacing (and generating drama through plot holes as opposed to plot). There’s also a bit of awkwardness with how Meltzer introduces characters and their key backstories. Rachel’s chronic disease–there are some great ways that similar character traits have been presented […]

Whitehead goes for a totally different vibe here–and it works very well

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

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Free: got this new book from my library, which purchased it on my recommendation (and, as always, gets a chunk of change from me at year end as a blanket thank you! libraries are great!) This book started off somewhat slowly for me, which I found surprising since clarity of vision and scene has always stood out to me as one of Whitehead’s strengths. In both The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, the setting is almost as important (more important?) than the characters who move about it. […]

This one didn’t even blurb The Secret History but I was all in

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

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I mean, I frequently want novels I like to last longer, but in particular I wanted this novel to last longer at the outset, when I wasn’t even super invested in the various characters! The payoff would have been…immense. As it were, there are very, very strong The Secret History vibes in this book except that the twist/answer is not given away at the start but revealed, slowly, over time. There’s been a murder, this much we know for certain. Oliver served time for the crime, but […]

I know she’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I really like Taylor Jenkins Reid

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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I very much liked this novel! Reid has this knack for creating interesting scenarios that don’t involve thrillers or fantasy or anything much beyond the ordinary, and for me she does a great job doing so. This book is written entirely in the form of interviews–sometimes by the author, sometimes in the form of faux clippings from other magazines (or TV shows?) but always engaging. Someone called it out as “all tell, no show” but I disagree. The in-depth interview is a time honored tradition […]

I was pretty excited for this one but ultimately felt like it fell a bit flat

My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa

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The biggest issue I have with reading so much is that I’m starting to recognize twists before they come… I’ve read a number of twisty/tense books this year (The Plot comes to mind as a recent example, as does All the Light We Cannot See since I’ve only just written the reviews) and there’s a number of tricks/techniques that an author can use to heighten the tension and keep it going. In The Plot, our narrator is the one in possession of the titular plot but not of the […]

No idea where I got this recommendation but I really enjoyed this graphic novel!

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki, Rosemary Valero-O'Connell (Illustrator)

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Excellent graphic novel that makes me question (as always) why I don’t seek these out with as much focus as I parse out latest novels. I’m not sure that we can call this book short insomuch as it is shorter than a novel (obviously). Sure you can read just the words on the page, and be done in under an hour. But then you’d miss the art, which would be a disservice to Valero-O’Connell and her ability to bring to life the drama in the […]



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