Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Electra Complex

Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter by Lizzie Pook

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CBR 14 Bingo: Bird Birds populate the landscape of this book – and Eliza’s father is prophesied to be found in a white place surrounded by many birds. When Eliza’s father’s ship returns from a pearling expedition without him, everyone but her seems to accept that he is dead. But Eliza is certain there is more to the story, and she is determined to find him. I am rather annoyed with this book. It was so relentlessly depressing, and once I had gotten through the […]

Are All Victorian Romances the Same Plot?

Golden Urchin by Madeleine Brent

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Like the Modesty Blaise books I’ve read by Peter O’Donnell, his Victorian romances (writing as Madeleine Brent) also follow a familiar structure. I’ve read three of his thriller/romances and they have much in common. Young women in impoverished circumstances (a fishergirl, a Yak-whisperer in Tibet, and a white aborigine with fiery red hair) encounter a handsome man, save his life, become (or are) orphans, are taken into a household that educates them and teaches them to be “civilized.” They are the secret children of extremely […]

How Great is this reef anyway?

The Great Barrier Reef by Helen Scales

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I recently read a graphic novel (from First Second publishers) about coral reefs; therefore, The Great Barrier Reef by Helen Scales had some repetition. Yet, this book was focused on the Great Barrier Reef, and not all the worlds coral reefs. This allows what was learned before to now be applied to the one specific area. Lisk Feng illustrations are what really makes the story for me. They are not photographs, but neither are they cartoonish. This in-between approach was refreshing. You are learning, but […]

Turtles are cute, turtles are fun. And when you read about Yoshi, you’ll want one!

Yoshi and the Ocean: A Sea Turtle’s Incredible Journey Home by Lindsay Moore

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Note: If I have italicized a large amount of text, it is because it is directly from the publisher description.   Turtles are cute, turtles are fun. And when you read about Yoshi, you’ll want one! Okay, you cannot have a loggerhead turtle for several reasons, but you can learn about one special one in Yoshi and the Ocean: A Sea Turtle’s Incredible Journey Home. In this longer picture book, we follow a young turtle from the time they were caught and injured in a […]

“We’re all eccentrics in a town like this”

Larrimah: A missing man, an eyeless croc and an outback town of 11 people who mostly hate each other by Caroline Graham; Kylie Stevenson

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  Larrimah: A missing man, an eyeless croc and an outback town of 11 people who mostly hate each other You have to hand it to Caroline Graham and Kylie Stevenson, that is one hell of a book title and one that would be perfectly suited to a piece of absurdist Australian fiction. But while  absolutely absurd, the story told in Larrimah isn’t fictional at all, but rather true crime.   This book is a follow up to the podcast ‘Lost in Larrimah’, which won […]

She of the Diamante Garters and Pearl-Handled Pistol

The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions by Kelly Greenwood

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In this collection of detective stories, Phryne Fisher recovers missing jewelry and missing people, thwarts blackmailers, and cracks codes, all while remaining as cool and unflappable as ever. I adore the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. The author wrote a short note at the beginning of the book about how Miss Fisher came to be – she wanted to write a sort of female James Bond, with the glamour and the adventure and the romance, except better than James Bond because her books are not sexist […]



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