Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair

Sun City by Tove Jansson

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Veering far afield from her native Finland, Jansson (of Moomin fame) writes of the denizens of St. Petersburg, Florida, and its retirement community.  They live in retirement hotels, within walking distance of the piers and parks, not to mention the Bounty.  Built as a full-scale replica for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty, it served as a tourist attraction connected with the St. Petersburg Museum of History from the mid-60s through the mid-80s, and its masts are easily viewed from the porches and verandas […]

One of those books I hated everything about it, but DANG! is it a fun trip!

The Girl Who Flew Away by Lee Dean

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The Girl Who Flew Away by Lee Dean was sent to me as an online reader copy. And I am glad of that as this is the kind of book I hate everything about… yet it is one of the most amazing books I have read.  We are getting a slice of life from some really not nice people (including our girl who flew/the point of view the story is told from) who are just trying to get out alive. The feeling of the time […]

Cats don’t really feature prominently in this narrative (Bingo)

Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart

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Nowhere Book Bingo: From the decade I was born (1970s) Smart Bitches Book Bingo: Published in 2000 or earlier (first published 1976) CBR16 Bingo: Vintage (published 48 years ago) Briony Ashley is working in Portugal when she recieves word that her father has died, in what appears to be a hit-and-run accident. Her father didn’t die instantly, but had time to ramble some strange and slightly mysterious things, among them a warning that Briony needs to be careful. She goes home to what is now […]

I Hope It Doesn’t Suck

The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman

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Read as part of CBR16 Bingo: smash. This book is a vampire novel, a historical fiction novel, and a mystery novel all rolled into one.  Christopher Buehlman’s Between Two Fires isn’t the kind of book I’d normally read: gonzo fantasy. But it came highly recommended and — in spite of itself — it worked. The imagery was overpowering and the narrative eventually caught up with it near the end. It made sense for the kind of story it was trying to tell: take the apocalyptic overtones of […]

Campy

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

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Read as part of CBR16 Bingo: and also…This is a repeat of the dun-dun square since the book is a mystery Has America found her Tana French? Bold words to be sure. French is my favorite writer and the person I’d argue is our greatest living crime writer. Her character-driven mysteries are sumptuous masterpieces. The Hunter, her 2024 release, is an early favorite for my personal best book of this year. At the very least, I can’t imagine it falling out of the top 3. French […]

Learn, Baby, Learn

Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco by Richie Narvaez

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Read as part of CBR16Bingo: Disco. The book is set in the 1970s, in New York City, has a prominent theme at a discotheque and has the word “disco” in the title. Imagine if Harriet the Spy was a high school girl of Hispanic descent in 70s Brooklyn and you’d have the vibe of this one. There are two stories here, one about Holly and the other about Xander. I don’t want to spoil them but the dueling narratives do not imply an unlikely friendship. […]



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