Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Featured Review Archive

These reviews, which were promoted in CBR social media, on our homepage, and in Pajiba Love, appear below by review publication date, not by date featured.

 

Life is always happening and has happened and will happen

Question 7 by Richard Flanagan

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One of Chekhov’s earliest stories was a parody of mental arithmetic questions asked of schoolchildren, of which Chekhov’s question 7 is typical: Wednesday, June 17, 1881, a train had to leave station A at 3am in order to reach station B at 11pm; just as the train was about to depart, however, an order came that the train had to reach station B by 7pm. Who loves longer, a man or a woman? Who? You, me, a Hiroshima resident or a slave labourer? And why […]

“You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go”

Elvis and Me (1985) by Priscilla Presley with Sandra Harmon

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Content note for book and review: Grooming, addiction, domestic violence So I’ve recently got into writer/comedian/actress Chelsea Devantez‘s podcast Glamorous Trash, which does deep dives into celebrity memoir and generally unpacking celebrity myth making and narratives in a funny, thoughtful, sometimes poignant, and very incisive and sympathetic way. I listened to the episodes about the memoirs I’d read, and then ordered a bunch more that looked interesting to read before listening to their episodes. (Do other people approach podcasts like book series/binge-watching, whereby they listen […]

Men are naturally hot and dry and women are naturally cold and damp. Guess which is good?

The Once and Future Sex by Eleanor Janega

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Accessibly written history on how medieval society viewed women and how they viewed themselves. Spoiler alert – the “natural” woman is straight up the opposite of what society thinks is “natural” now. I’ve recently fallen down a Youtube rabbit hole on History Hit. I am finding it somewhat reassuring to learn about other times in history that have dealt with seemingly insurmountable issues that were, eventually, surmounted. So when I learned that one of their historians wrote the history of medieval women? Girl, I ran […]

“There are so many ways to tell it, and all of them are important. But each way paints a very different picture and leads down a different road.”

Lay Them to Rest: On the Road with the Cold Case Investigators Who Identify the Nameless by Laurah Norton

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Like many of my millennial siblings I partake in quite a bit of true crime content. Over the years it’s become important to me that the content I consume is doing the work of being ethical in how it portrays the victims and their loved ones. I’m not here for tragedy porn, I’m here because the hows and whys of human interaction fascinate me and sometimes those interactions are negative.    Which is perhaps why Lay Them to Rest found its way onto my to […]

Getting caught up on unreviewed books from last year

The Hustler by Walter Tevis

Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry

The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa

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My world fell apart last November with the election of Donald Trump, and I’m still trying to put the pieces back together. Nothing literal (lucky me). I’ve just spent the past few months detached from….everything outside of my personal bubble. I’m getting back to normal, though. No less angry – but better able to be a part of the world, I guess. Unfortunately, reading has been one of the things that has fallen by the wayside. I haven’t had the mental energy to read and […]

“Had me in the first half, I’m not going to lie..”

Perils of Pleasure by Julie Anne Long

Like No Other Lover by Julie Anne Long

Since the Surrender by Julie Anne Long

I Kissed An Earl by Julie Anne Long

What I Did for A Duke by Julie Anne Long

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Making my way through the Pennyroyal Green series by Julie Anne Long, but dependent upon the library, so, while I’ve read these all this year, they weren’t exactly in order.  Luckily, I’ve been keeping notes. Now that the top five are covered, I figured I’d put out this half of the reviews. Spoilers abound! Perils of Pleasure – Colin Eversea is trouble – but it’s rogue-ish trouble, typically – And yet, we find our hero headed for the hangman’s noose, literally, about to hang for a […]



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