Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The mafia and romance?

Violet by Sophie Lark

by Leave a Comment

I found Violet (2019) by Sophie Lark with a little Google and Amazon searching. I was specifically looking for a book that filled the “Violet” square for Cannonball Bingo, and I figured there had to be a romance novel with ‘violet’ in the title. When I found Violet and saw that I could get it through Kindle Unlimited, I was sold. Violet is the third book in a series (about different mafia romances?), but the description said it was a stand-alone novel, which was perfect for me. Spoilers. Violet is a […]

White whale for a blackout (cbr12bingo 2: white whale)

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

by 1 Comment

This is a door stopper of a book at 754 pages, but I’ve read longer books quicker. I don’t read enough history, and despite my historian father being obsessed with the civil war in particular, I know the highlights and half-remembered tidbits from AP history.  Team of Rivals has been THE Lincoln book since its publication, so it seemed like a good enough place to start. So I did.  Years ago.  And this whale got beached. I’m glad I finished it, but it is a […]

The tree of our family was parted – branches here, roots there – parted for their lumber.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

by Leave a Comment

I first found Ta-Nehisi Coates when my friend recommended The Beautiful Struggle to me. I found it very moving and have since read every book Coates has written. I’m also using The Water Dancer for Cannonball Bingo. It is filling the “Repeat” square. I am repeating “Uncannon” since Ta-Nehisi Coates is not an old, white man. In a story about slavery, Coates uses the words “Tasked” and “Quality” instead of slave and master. Hiram Walker is one of the Tasked. His life is relatively comfortable compared to some of […]

Can you imagine a life where all you have to do is summer in the Italian countryside?

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

by Leave a Comment

CBR12 BINGO: I Wish Double BINGO! Vertical: The Roaring 20s, Pandemic, Friendship, Green, I Wish Horizontal: Money, No Money, Repeat, I Wish, Violet The title of my review comes from the classic episode of The Office in which we learn about the Finer Things Club. Oscar: Can you imagine a life where all you have to do is summer in the Italian countryside? Pam: And spend time with George Emerson. That’s what I would do. That sums up why I selected A Room with a View […]

Fools for Love

Up at the Villa by W. Somerset Maugham

by 3 Comments

Mary Panton, a wealthy and beautiful widow who lives in an old villa in the hills overlooking Florence, is asked by a longtime friend to marry him. While he is away for a few days and she is considering his proposal, an encounter with a young refugee could destroy all her plans for the future. This is a short but intense novel that makes some poignant observations on the many facets of love, with Florence and the Tuscany region as a beautiful backdrop against which […]

“Man errs, till he has ceased to strive.”

Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn As Told by a Friend by Thomas Mann

by Leave a Comment

In this modern take on the Faust myth, composer Adrian Leverkühn, a cold but brilliant character, sells his soul to the devil for twenty-four years of unparalleled and innovative accomplishments in his chosen field. His life is chronicled by his childhood friend Serenus who is the only one close to Adrian, since isolation from others and abstaining from loving anyone is part of the pact, too. I bought this book about 15 years ago, read the first 300 pages, decided that I had absolutely lost […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo