CBR13 – Page 20 – Cannonball Read 17

I’m not clockwork.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

August 30, 2021 by Leedock Leave a Comment

CBR13 BINGO: Machinery Big thanks to Merryn for using this novel for the Machinery square. Very clever way to fill a square that would have otherwise had me stumped or using up my free/pandemic options. Machinery with magical shenanigans is more my speed. Thanks! This novel dips its toes into multiple genre pools: historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy and a dash of romance. It’s hard to find a story uninteresting if it can bring together the Fenian bombings of 1884, the premiere of Gilbert and […]

Facts, fiction, and women’s work

The Daring Ladies of Lowell: A Novel by Kate Alcott

August 30, 2021 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr13bingo Machinery The Daring Ladies of Lowell is a work of historical fiction set in a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1832-33. In addition to including much historical fact about women’s working conditions and life at the mill, it also involves a love story and a murder mystery taken from real life. Kate Alcott (pen name for Patricia O’Brien) takes her readers into the world of her fictional heroine Alice Barrow as she begins work at the mill, gets to know her fellow workers in […]

“Failure cannot be understood in theory, only in practice, sometimes over and over and over again.”

James Acaster’s Classic Scrapes by James Acaster

August 28, 2021 by ElCicco 1 Comment

Cbr13bingo Free! Bingo #2 – diagonal I received this book as a gift from my husband last year because we are big fans of British panel shows and comedian James Acaster, who is all over them. Look at me reading another memoir, my fourth in a row!! This one is clearly different from the previous three in that it is by a male and it is comedic. James Acaster is a thirty-something British comedian, perhaps not terribly well known in the US but a popular […]

Girlhood, friendships, and lies that go too far

We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida

August 28, 2021 by Rooooomie Leave a Comment

Bingo: landscape I have a soft spot for stories about teenage girls, even more so when they’re written for an adult audience. I suppose it is a self-indulgent subject, but I really enjoy reading about the inner lives of girls and their friendships. One of my favorite novels in this little genre is Megan Abbott’s Dare Me, which is so honest and incisive that it was a bit painful to read. Vendela Vida has a similar ability to expose the inner workings of teenage female […]

An introduction to the horrors of life in rural India

The Good Girls by Sonia Faleiro

August 28, 2021 by Rooooomie Leave a Comment

Bingo: uncannon In a small, rural village in India’s largest state, two teenage girls, Padma and Lalli, go missing one evening. A few hours later they are found, hanging from a mango tree in a nearby field. A family member saw them using a mobile phone to call a boy from a nearby village; did he rape and kill them? Or was it an honor killing carried out by the girls’ families? The Good Girls is a work of narrative journalism that brings in scores […]

What unspeakable truth is being covered up by stories of ghosts?

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley

August 27, 2021 by Merryn Leave a Comment

CBRBingo: Fauna – moths and Katsu, who somehow survived. In her sequel to The Watchmaker of Filligree Street Natash Pulley takes the story to Japan. Thaniel has been sent by the Foreign Office to investigate stories of ghosts at the British legation. His boss Fanshaw thinks that someone at the legation might be abusing their power over the local staff and an outsider who speaks the language and knows something of the culture might be able to get to the bottom of what’s really going on. And […]

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.

Help Our Mission