Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Fashionable People Doing Unfashionable Things

Deliberate Cruelty, Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century by Roseanne Montillo

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Content Warning: This book deals with murder, as the title suggests. The book also addresses spousal abuse and suicide. This review mentions the murder but does not touch on the other topics. The novel opens with a bit of snarky back-and-forth between Truman Capote and the Millionaire’s Wife of the title (Ann Woodward), establishing that the two are not on friendly terms. She allegedly uses a slur about his lifestyle (Truman Capote was openly gay) to describe him, and he calls her “Mrs. Bang Bang” […]

“If you’re our age and single, dating kind of has to be an act of reckless optimism”

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

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This book explores the journey of learning that long engrained habits are no longer serving us, and that despite this knowledge it still requires immense fortitude to let them go. And then you have to go and do it again and again until you die. Plot: Sally is a writer for the copy-right safe SNL called the Night Owls, and she’s kind of bitter. She had let a lot of her youth be dictated by what she was supposed to want, and when she finally […]

It was fine?

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

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Best for: I’m not totally sure if I’m honest. It’s similar to her other books, but also not. In a nutshell: Jess is visiting her half brother Ben in Paris, but when she arrives, he’s nowhere to be found, and his cat has some blood on it. Worth quoting: N/A Why I chose it: Thought I’d round out the Lucy Foley catalog. Review: Hmmm. I nearly gave up on this book because it wasn’t holding my attention, but there is a twist that comes about […]

Long drawn-out pining, really not my cup of tea

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

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Nowhere Bingo Card: A book that’s been on my shelf for more than a year Prince Kiem, a minor royal in the Iskat Empire is called before the Emperor and told in no uncertain terms that he will be getting married to secure a valuable political alliance. The Empire is about to renegotiate its treaty agreements with all the planets in its dominion, and the representatives all have to be married to be accepted (that bit wasn’t entirely clear to me). So Kiem has to […]

“What the stories never said: at the end of the day, if a man wants to kill you, he kills you. It’s not on you to convince him not to.”

The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon

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This was a great literary suspense debut, with one pretty big flaw that it feels like the author just really misjudged, but she is clearly a talented lady and I will definitely be reading her next book. Firstly, I just want to complain a little that I can’t even manage to finish a novel in my own language let alone write and finish and PUBLISH a beautiful book in my SECOND*, and then have it be this good. So that’s just me being jealous and […]

WO Deeply Unlikeable Main Characters? A Dream!

Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater

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Best for: People who don’t need to like … any of the characters in the book? In a nutshell: Roach is a true-crime-loving bookseller. Laura is also a bookseller, new to the same shop. She writes poetry somewhat related to true crime. Worth quoting: N/A Why I chose it: Strong ratings online in this genre. Review: This book is entertaining, but I found the character development lacking. Not that the characters weren’t developed, it’s just the direction they went in. Let me explain. This book […]



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