Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Squicky

Beast In View by Margaret Millar

by Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR11 Bingo: Award winner. This book won the 1957 Edgar Award for best Mystery work. This book edged out Patricia Highsmith’s legendary The Talented Mr. Ripley for the 1957 Edgar Award. Both of them are more psychological thrillers than mysteries. Both were written by world class female crime writers, maybe 1 and 1a of the genre. Yet while Patricia Highsmith’s work has endured (she’s the only woman whose works have been republished by the Everyman’s Library), Millar’s were largely forgotten for decades. This […]

Executioner’s Psalm

The Green Mile by Stephen King

by Leave a Comment

cbr11bingo – Reading the TBR. Stephen King can seemingly write a story any way he puts his mind to, and here he is in a decidedly Dickensian bent. Intentionally echoing the serial publication of Dickens’s novels, The Green Mile was initially published in six paperback installments, at monthly intervals. The story itself is told in flashback by an aged former prison guard named Paul Edgecombe, writing from the sunroom of his retirement home. In between dodging a contemptuous employee and spending quality time with a […]

Required reading for all teens, parents of teens, or anyone who knows a teen.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

by Leave a Comment

CBR11 Bingo: Youths!   This was one of those books that I had heard of but really didn’t know what it was about. I picked it up at a discount book sale based on name recognition alone; when I needed a YA selection for this bingo square, I dug it out of the TBR pile. Speak is a novel about a girl named Melinda, and picks up just as she starts her first year of high school.  From day one she is a social outcast […]

Eight things I hated about this book and one thing I liked

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

by Leave a Comment

CBR11bingo: Pajiba BINGO: Remix, PAJIBA, Two Heads Are Better Than One, I LOVE THIS, Cannonballer Says In 1962, a boat arrives at Porto Vergogna on the Italian coast carrying Dee Moray, a dying actress. The beautiful young woman is greeted by Pasquale Tursi, the (even younger) owner of the only hotel in the tiny village. Over just a few days, the pair, one American and one Italian, form a deep emotional connection. Circumstances keep them apart until, fifty years later, Pasquale sets off to find […]

Darkly Enchanting

The Binding by Bridget Collins

by Leave a Comment

It’s been a long time since a book has really grabbed me and not let go until the end. I’m a slow reader these days, usually taking 2 – 3 weeks to finish a book since I only read at night before bed. But The Binding demanded my time. I read it everywhere, foregoing all kinds of adulting in favor of immersing myself in Collins’ world, and I finished it in about 3 days. In the world of The Binding, there are people who have the […]

A historical romance with ice smugglers (bingo)

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah Maclean

by 2 Comments

#CBR11 Bingo: History Schmistory (set in the Victorian era) On the eve of her twenty-ninth birthday, Lady Henrietta “Hattie” Sedly, aided by her best friend Lady Eleonora (Nora), the daughter of a duke, is planning on going to an exclusive brothel in Covent Garden catering to women. She needs to lose her virginity, so her father will stop trying to pressure her into marriage. Firmly on the shelf, Hattie has discovered that despite a generous dowry, no one actually wants to marry her. She’s too tall, […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo