Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“You are the queen. You are the queen that Antoinette wanted to be . . .”

Antoinette's Sister by Diana Giovinazzo

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CBR17 Bingo: Black – Behold, the cover. Though her tragic sister Marie Antoinette is better known today, Maria Carolina Charlotte, the queen of Naples, ruled with better success but faced her own share of troubles and tribulations in her years on the throne. The thing with historical fiction is that the story can live or die by the events it’s based on, especially when it follows the life of a historical figure. Luckily, Charlotte is an interesting main character. Though her attitudes toward the monarchy […]

Do not mistake this kindness. I simply want to be the one who breaks you.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

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His heart has a draft. It lets in light. It lets in storms. It lets in everything. ― V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue Ever feel like running away from your life and forming an everlasting pact with a hot demon you meet in the woods on the day of your wedding? Addie didn’t feel like it either but that’s what happened. It’s 1729 in rural France. Addie is twenty-three, single, a dreamer, an artist, and has zero interest in succumbing to the […]

Travel Research Books

The Seafarers: The Atlantic Crossing by Melvin Maddocks, editor

The British Abroad: The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century by Jeremy Black

Traveling Beyond Her Sphere: American Women on the Grand Tour 1814-1914 by Bess Beatty

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At work we’re in research mode, preparing for our new exhibition about travel in the 19th century. Based on my interests and previous research avenues I got handed the Grand Tour and a piece of the cruise industry as my responsibilities. For the past few weeks, I’ve been scouring all my usual resource repositories, googling some very interesting UK museum websites, and our curator made sure I had some books to work my way through. They’ve been… a mixed bag.   The Seafarers: The Atlantic Crossing by […]

I borrowed the cat for the photo

Championess by Tarun Shanker

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I have wanted to read Championess by Tarun Shanker for a bit now, but things kept getting in the way from actually reading. But about a week ago (as of September 15, 2021) I found a copy. Shanker’s book was an amazing piece of history, a great story of sisters, and even had a little romance. Based on Elizabeth Wilkinson, a bare-knuckled boxer, I was excited to learn of the down and dirty, nasty, corrupt, ugly world of boxing in the 1700’s. The story of […]

Great gossip straight from Georgian England

The Scandalous Lady W by Hallie Rubenfold

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Being both in the grip of a current obsession for consuming everything I can about England in the 18th century and also being a huge gossip, The Scandalous Lady W seemed almost tailor made for me. I found this book after inhaling the first two seasons of the Harlots TV series and noticing it was written by Rubenhold – I’ve since bought just a few more from her based on how much I enjoyed this. The Scandalous Lady W deals with the headline making divorce […]

“If you can’t win the game, you have to cheat.”

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Lee, Mackenzi

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Have you read Mackenzi Lee’s The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue? If not, stop reading this review and go read that.  This is the sequel, and both books are utterly delightful and disarming. This book is the second in The Montague Siblings series (or duology? there are only two of them) and the story belongs to Felicity, the more sensible and academic of the two.  Gentleman’s Guide made it clear that Felicity has more interest in science and medicine than domesticity and society and in her […]



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