Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

In a gadda da vida, baby

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

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A non fiction book that reads partly like a travelogue and partly like a novel, it’s easy to see why Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has become known as a true crime classic. I devoured this almost whole, and even managed to forget that it was about a crime until I got half way through and the deed occurred, immersed as I was in getting to know Savannah’s society. Author John Berendt had visited Savannah and fallen in love, and so decided […]

Hey look, I did a thing. After eight months….. 2019 STATS!

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As some of you may have noticed, we’re doing something a little different this year. Namely, I have a new baby in the house (she’s currently mewling at me from her swing, refusing to go to sleep), and don’t have the time for the monthly updates. So I instead wanted to focus on quarterly updates (which I think I did last year). That turned into a half-year update….and here I am in August finally getting around to it. But – and this is the good […]

Spoiler: None of Them are Named Balki or Larry

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

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What would you do to achieve ultimate peace with yourself, your purpose in life, and maximize your health and well being? Tranquillum House will help you to this place of ultimate centering and self actualization in a pristine spa setting… Sounds lovely… Nine people arrive at the Tranquillum House in a remote part of Australia all seeking self improvement. Some want to lose weight, some are dealing with chronic health problems, and some aren’t even sure what’s wrong, just that something isn’t right.  It’s a […]

The Raft of Medusa

The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells

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Read as part of CBR 11: Science David Wallace-Wells wants us to avoid the trap of fatalism when it comes to climate change. Fatalism is a form of denialism. I get that. I appreciate it. But man, it’s tough to come away from reading this book feeling anything but pessimistic about the future at best and nihilistic at worse. This book is divided into two sections: the potential scientific effects in the near future due to global warming, and how we process that ethically, politically, […]

Death and the Maiden

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

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I really, really wish I liked this book more than I did. It really has quite a bit going for it, I really enjoyed about 85% of the book a lot, but it didn’t quite stick the landing for me. Set in Nineteenth Century British Malaya, Li Lan is the only child of a Chinese businessman. The family fortunes have dwindled to almost nothing since the family was hit with small pox, disfiguring Li Lan’s father and killing her mother when she was very young.  […]

Jack the Stripper

Bad Penny Blues by Cathi Unsworth

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Billed by no less than bestselling author David Peace as the English answer to The Black Dahlia, Bad Penny Blues has a lot to live up to. For the most part, it met the hype. There are two concurrent stories going on here, both of which brush against each other in the setting of Swinging 60s London. One is a rising star detective who is trying to figure out what’s behind the brutal murders of random women, most of the prostitutes. The other is an up-and-coming clothing designer […]



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