Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Tell me a love story

Love Stories by Trent Dalton

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Trent Dalton is a local legend in Brisbane, an award winning and renowned author who has brought great acclaim to our little Aussie city. During the pandemic, Dalton decided to pen his next novel. But it’s not a story of fiction or auto-biographical, like his previous work. This time, he collected and shared the love stories of others. He set up a typewriter and a card table in the CBD of Brisbane and started collecting stories. He spoke to people of all creeds, backgrounds, religions… […]

“I don’t think happily ever after is something that happens to you, Dev. I think it’s something you choose to do for yourself.”

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

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I read The Charm Offensive back in July and I’m sad I didn’t sit down to write a review right away because I really loved this one, and it deserves a more nuanced discussion than I’m about to give it. This book was vaguely on my radar when I put together my 2022 Read Harder Challenge TBR, and a quick search for romances with asexual protagonists secured its place on that list (one of the main characters is demisexual). The basic plot is that tech-genius […]

A tea based magic system in an ancient Chinese inspired setting, yes please. (Bingo #2!!)

A Magic Steeped in Poison: The Book of Tea vol. 1 by Judy I. Lin

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CBR14 Bingo: “Gaslight” – In a setting influenced by ancient China, there is no electricity, all lights are flame based. A Magic Steeped in Poison was featured by Mysterious Galaxy earlier this year.  As a self-described tea snob, I was instantly interested.  I got the audiobook to listen during my health stomps.  While listening, I appreciated hearing the correct pronunciations of the Chinese (or Chinese inspired) names.  However, sitting down to try and write the review I’m hampered by not knowing how  names are spelled.  […]

The Night Stalker … In Print

The Kolchak Papers: The Original Novels by Jeff Rice

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I like to find the original literary sources for movies that I like (see past reviews of Strangers on a Train, Rosemary’s Baby, Breakfast at Tiffany’s), so I was happy to find out that an old television show from my childhood, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, actually started life out as a book. The Kolchak Papers: The Original Novels includes the first two novels that introduced intrepid reporter Carl Kolchak, who has a flair for detecting the supernatural. They first debuted in 1970 and are now […]

Do You want to Build a Snowman (I Hope Not)

The Snowman by Jo Nesbø

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I usually like to start a series from the beginning, but I had already seen the movie The Snowman with Michael Fassbender, so decided to just try the novel by Jo Nesbø and see how they compared. It probably would have been better if I had done those two things in reverse order, but that’s how it was. This is the seventh book in Nesbø’s series featuring Norwegian Detective Harry Hole. Harry, like all good, classic detectives, has his issues – he’s an introvert, but […]

Lost in the Noir of Iceland (And Liking It)

The Dark Iceland Series (1-6) by Ragnar Jónasson

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After reading the Martin Beck novels last year, I decided to continue with Nordic noir. I had heard about a series set in Iceland, specifically the remote area of Siglufjörður, and featuring  a young detective named Ari Thór Arason. I read these novels on Kindle and on Audible, where it helped to hear the correct pronunciations of some of the more challenging (to me) place names. Then author is supposed to be a big fan of Agatha Christie (as am I). He has translated fourteen […]



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