Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Losers

The Alcoholics by Jim Thompson

Miami Purity by Vicki Hendricks

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I knocked out two quickie noir tales yesterday, both about sad sacks trying to get through life. One I liked way more than the other. The Alcoholics Jim Thompson 2 stars The Year of Jim Thompson continues with one of his more forgettable works. The New York Review of Books described it as “satire with a bludgeon” and I suppose that’s true because I felt bludgeoned by this one. If you like your satire this heavy handed, this one may work. But it didn’t for me. […]

This is not a happy story, but hey- neither is The Little Mermaid. 

The Seas by Samantha Hunt

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I devoured Samantha Hunt’s previous novel, Mr. Splitfoot, last year and it easily fell into my top 10 of the decade (If you have yet to come across Mr. Splitfoot then I implore you to check it out; it has everything you’ll ever need: ghosts! cults! comets!) but The Seas easily steals a spot among my favorites of all time. The Seas is slim, spare, and haunting.  I have always been drawn to tales of maritime peril, and while there is no shipwreck here there are […]

A bit like “About a Boy”, except here the Hugh Grant character is a heroin addict

Sangen om en brukket nese (The Ballad of a Broken Nose) by Arne Svingen

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4.5 stars Bart is about to turn thirteen. He’s named after Bart Simpson, because it seems his mother wanted him to be tough and clever and able to handle himself. This is also why she’s signed him up for boxing lessons. He dutifully  goes to practise several times a week, and one of these days, he may actually start hitting. His boxing coach suggests he may want to try out for some other sport, which Bart can understand, as except for having a pretty good […]

Just Because It’s Brief Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t Painful

Ablutions by Patrick DeWitt

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Do you love the show Intervention, but find it too glossy and upbeat? Do you feel the problem with Charles Bukowski is that he was just a bit too cheerful? Then this might just be the book for you. Ablutions is narrated by an unnamed Barman (I’d say he’s our protagonist but I’m not entirely sure that is the case) working in a deeply depressing, lowest-of-lowbrow Hollywood bar. Imagine all the magnificent wealth, glamour, and luxury of Hollywood. Cool, now imagine the polar opposite of […]

I’m late to the train.

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Another Cannonball favorite finally made its way up my TBR list, and I had mixed feelings. I honestly don’t know why any reviews anywhere ever would call this book fast-paced, because the pace was absolutely killing me for the first half. Nothing happened but cryptic allusions to secrets and Rachel’s alcoholism and depression. I hated it for a while. Every time I put it down I’d feel kind of sad and crappy about life for a few hours before I finally realized that Rachel’s miserable […]

Take Me With You

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August Shroeder is trying to complete a trip to Yellowstone that he had planned to take with his nineteen year old son, that is before his sun passed away. Instead of making the trip with his son, he is taking the trip with his son’s ashes. Unfortunately, he runs into problems right away, and he ends up at a mechanics to fix his vehicle. It now looks like this trip that he had been saving for and planned on taking, wasn’t going to happen. With the […]



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