Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Baby’s first Patricia Briggs.

Masques (Aralorn, #1) by Patricia Briggs

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This is sort of a deceptive three stars, because I really liked the story and the characters, but the pacing is so weird, and the book isn’t fleshed out enough. Also, I did read the updated and expanded version, but I’m attaching this review to the cheesier, older, more colorful original cover because I like it better. It’s going to annoy me going forward in the series (which I will be doing!) that the other books won’t match, because even though this book was published […]

“I feel my sexiness is a thing that creeps up on you, like mold on a loaf of corner-store bread you thought you’d get three more days out of.”

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. by Samantha Irby

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I enjoyed We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. while listening to it, but it’s been a couple of months since I finished it now, and it hasn’t really stuck with me, so I’m rating this one three stars. The only story that I remember with any clarity was the one about her cat, which I was always going to remember because it was about a cat, but also because her cat was SOMETHING ELSE. And also because the way she writes about her cat was very […]

“He played the part of the devil too successfully. But he was not the devil. Au fond, he was a stupid man. And so – he died.”

Cards on the Table (Hercule Poirot, #14) by Agatha Christie

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I just love the atmosphere of a good Agatha Christie book. There’s not really anything like it. I was bit of a dum-dum and started listening to this one (with classic Christie narrator, Hugh Fraser) while doing stuff at work and didn’t pay it sufficient attention at first, and so was feeling a bit lost. Which is a shame! Because once I started paying attention, I had a really good time with this one. It’s a bit different than Christie’s other mysteries, in that we […]

Unfettered Capitalism and the American Dream

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

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This is an absolutely fascinating work of family history, that just happens to also be a searing indictment of that family’s contribution to the opioid crisis. The first chunk of this book details the origins of the Sackler family. In some ways, it’s a truly American success story: the three brothers, Arthur, Mortimer, and Raymond, were the children of immigrants. All became doctors. The three brothers purchased a small pharmaceutical company in the early 1950’s (Purdue Pharma), which Mortimer and Raymond mostly ran while Arthur […]

“I’m as wary of certainty as I am of good vibes and positive thinking.”

Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough

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I was looking for another audiobook to listen to during my commute when I saw Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing (2021) by Lauren Hough available at my library. The blurb described it as a memoir about leaving a cult. It sounded like an interesting topic, and so I picked it up. I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I was surprised when Cate Blanchett began speaking, and the first essay was the author’s experience of being a lesbian in the Air Force. At first, I thought I’d […]

Happy Birthday Nona

Nona the Ninth (The Locked Tomb Series) by Tamsyn Muir

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*Looks around sneakily*  Mild spoilers for the series in the review, more pressing ones have had the whiteout treatment. Yeah, split me Tipex.   Oh look, it’s a surprise book! When I first picked up Gideon the Ninth a few years back, it was advertised as being part one of a trilogy. And when Harrow The Ninth was released, we were all assured it was two down and one to go. But then just over a year ago, there was the announcement that we were […]



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