cbr11 – Page 91 – Cannonball Read 17

Her Bloody Heart Tumbled Into My Lap

Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

January 7, 2019 by allisonata 2 Comments

Some books are so unremittingly personal that I am driven to distraction. This collection of achingly intimate essays—not quite chronological, in broken narrative, shifting between past and present tense—are addressed to “you” (me?!), which unnerved my inner WASP. TMI, dear author! Put a tourniquet on this open vein, you’re going to die and stain the carpet. Things are intense from page FOUR: The ugly truth is that I lost my son Isadore in court. The Hague Convention. The ugly of that truth is that I […]

…it never did any harm to walk through a new door now and then, and see where you end up.

Bellewhether by Susanna Kearsley

January 7, 2019 by Leedock 1 Comment

Happy 2019! I wanted to find a cozy historical romance/ Outlander-esque read for the holidays and this one did the trick. This is definitely a “twinkle lights on, hot cup of tea, warm fleece blanket and PJs all day” approved title. Oh, and it’s Diana Gabaldon approved which is what put this on my radar to begin with. The novel is set in Long Island and bounces between present day and 1759. The historical plot line centers on the Wilde family amidst the French and […]

I just can’t quit you, Lauren Oliver.

Broken Things by Lauren Oliver

January 7, 2019 by scootsa1000 2 Comments

Lauren Oliver is sort of my Cannonball nemesis. I adored her first book, Before I Fall, but have been disappointed ever since, and my disappointment is somewhat well documented. I disliked her Delirium trilogy (yet kept reading). I didn’t care for Rooms, and Panic was just ok. But for seem reason, I just can’t quit her. And I know, I have no one to blame but myself, really. Lauren Oliver owes me nothing. But still. I want more. I know that someday she’ll write something […]

In which the cute cooking manga takes a depressing turn

Kitchen Princess: Vol. 5 by Natsumi Ando (artist), Miyuki Kobayashi (writer)

Kitchen Princess: Vol. 6 by Natsumi Ando (artist), Miyuki Kobayashi (writer)

January 6, 2019 by Dome'Loki Leave a Comment

Last year my seven year old got into a cute cooking manga called Kitchen Princess. I read and reviewed book one for Cannonball Read 10 but then only skimmed through the second through fourth books. After reading volumes five and six my daughter somberly told me that a character had died and requested that I read them too. This was an unexpected turn for a shojo manga. The first four volumes contained a beginning love triangle between female protagonist Najika Kazami and brothers Daichi and Sora […]

I wish for more

The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories by Mahvesh Murad, Jared Shurin, eds.

January 5, 2019 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

I picked up this 2017 collection of short stories because it featured contributions of several writers whose work I’ve reviewed before and liked, and the subject of djinn (or jinn or genies, whatever term you prefer) has been popping up on my radar quite a bit lately. The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories was a brilliant way for me to start CBR11 — immensely entertaining, sometimes provocative, and an entree to the works of writers new to me but whose work I will definitely be tracking down. The stories are a wonderful mix of styles and settings and shed light not only on the nature of the djinn but on human nature as well. The djinn, created by Allah from smokeless fire, are sometimes depicted as tricky and/or evil, but in some ways they are no different from humans.

In Rural Idaho, No One Can Hear You Scream

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

January 4, 2019 by allisonata 3 Comments

In the category Genres I Like to Read, memoir and horror tie for dead last. (Elizabeth Gilbert is a shameless exhibitionist. Fight me.) However, when a book makes all the “Best of the Year” lists, I feel obligated to give it the old Amazon 1-Click. In the mountains of Idaho, Tara is the last child of a devout Mormon couple—so devout that their youngest children have no birth certificates, have never been to school, and do not go to the doctor, not even for grievous […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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