Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Some Legends Don’t Withstand the Test of Time

Bram Stoker's Dracula by Bram Stoker, Edited by Jan Needle

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Full disclosure, I had no idea I’d ordered the edited and abridged version from the library, but I decided to give it a go anyway since the abridged version was still some 400 pages. I never had to read “Dracula” in school, and while, like most people, I’m aware of the general premise of the story, my goal of reading at least one classic a year put this on my spooky-reads list for Halloween. Long story short, A real estate agent, Jonathan Harker, goes to […]

Baby Baby Baby

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

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This was one where I read the book before seeing the movie, both of which I did over Halloween weekend (Happy Halloween to me!). I had read, and admired Ira Levin’s Boys from Brazil years ago. Part of my issue with those kinds of high concept stories is that writers get too lost in the concept itself and fail to tell the story. Levin does not suffer from that problem. I’ve probably waited too long to read this (Stepford Wives as well). The premise is well known to […]

“It’s good being the horror chick, sure, always standing away from the rest of the crowd, smoking bitter cigarette after better cigarette, she’d have it no other way, but it’s nice to make eye contact with someone else with a black heart, too, and then breath smoke out slow, like judgment.”

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

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In one word: Frenetic Cannonball Read Bingo: Machines (I mean…it’s in the title!) All right, peeps. I’m here to tell you unequivocally that you need some Stephen Graham Jones in your life. Full stop. I am a casual horror fan. I cannot and do not watch horror TV or movies (nope nope nooooope) but do like reading horror. I’ve read a lot of the classics, but it’s been a hot minute since I took in something in from the genre. My first horror in a […]

Triple Cannonballing with Annie Wilkes. #CBRBINGO – Gateway

Misery by Stephen King

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There is some dated language and imagery in here that I don’t think King would use now (his modern books don’t ping anything for me) and that I don’t think I noticed last time, but overall this book is still great. This is the only Stephen King book (so far) that I’ve re-read. Eventually, once I finish up all his extant work (which could take me a while!) I will do a chronological re-read of all his books. That will be a project, for sure. […]

The depths of human nature

Terrible Faithfulness by Marlen Haushofer

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Marlen Haushofer is one of my absolute favourite authors and you cannot imagine how much it pains me that this never was translated into English. Her most famous novel, The Wall, did get translated, it got a so-so movie adaptation too, but her true strength lies in novellas and short stories. And you’re all missing out on this brilliant collection of short stories! She’s a true master of the field. I’m tagging this “horror” as well, even though they’re technically not horror stories. They’re stories […]

Sex, death, and queerness: a delightfully horrifying collection

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

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BINGO – Reader’s Choice in place of Home In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado has compiled eight short stories that are all unabashedly queer and horrifying. Much like Mariana Enriquez, another Latina short story horror writer I’ve read this year, Machado erases the line between the natural and supernatural. Magical realism floods every sentence. Whereas Enriquez’s stories tend to focus on social structures and politics, Machado focuses on sex and gender identity. In these short stories, Machado manages to illicit dread and […]



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