cbr13bingo – Page 33 – Cannonball Read 17

The Swamp Will Eat You

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

September 24, 2021 by Ale Leave a Comment

Since reading Russell’s short story collection, I’ve had her novel on my to-read. As always, bingo is a great time to knock a bunch of books off the TBR pile, so I finally made space for Swamplandia!. Sadly, I was underwhelmed. Russell’s writing is beautiful and there’s a ton of descriptive gems throughout the story, but plot wise, this book felt all over the place. Swamplandia! is an alligator themed adventure park run by the Bigtree family where they wrestle alligators and do stunts above the gator […]

I’ve “stumbled into a mystic portal where everything was weirder and more interesting and infinitely better”

Witch Please by Ann Aguirre

September 23, 2021 by llamareadsbooks Leave a Comment

CBR13Bingo: Free – I got this as an ARC Yes, the book is just as sweet and adorable as the cover suggests. At one point, Titus feels like he’s “stumbled into a mystic portal where everything was weirder and more interesting and infinitely better” which honestly is a pretty good description of how I felt reading this book. Danica and her cousin Clem manage a repair shop called Fix-It Witches in a small midwestern town. Their secret? They are actually mechanically-inclined witches who use their magic to […]

“I go to the grave shared by my father and Jimmy. The question I get most, the one I hate, is why I went into his room. And why I helped people. Again and again, ‘Why did you do it? How?’ The answer is, How could I not?” (Bingo#1)

All the Young Men: a memoir of love, AIDS, and chosen family in the American South by Ruth Coker Burks, Kevin Carr O'Leary

September 23, 2021 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

I read a lot of memoirs; I love listening to someone tell me their story. All the Young Men tells Ruth Coker Burks’ story as a young single mother in Hot Springs, Arkansas, who finds herself driven to the forefront of the AIDS crisis and becoming an activist in the fight against AIDS. Coker Burks story starts in the way that I think many of us hope we would respond – while visiting her friend recovering from cancer surgery, she notices nurses drawing straws to […]

The Rich Eat You

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

September 23, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Home. The book takes place in an apartment complex where the protagonist is house sitting. Riley Sager’s thing never seemed to be my thing. I tried Final Girls but quit after thirty pages because it gave me that airport bestseller page-ripper vibe. Nothing against those kinds of books but they’re not for me. I don’t fancy myself (hah!) as a high brow sophisticate when it comes to my reading tastes. But I usually enjoy stuff with more substance than what you get […]

“If this is the last decision I can ever make, at least it is my decision. Let me go, Alyosha. I am not afraid.”

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

September 23, 2021 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

One of our #CannonBookClub prompts asked if there’s any special power in taking a known story and envisioning it in a new way, and for me the answer is a resounding yes. Whether its something along the lines of Longbourn where characters who are merely set dressing in the original tale are given the limelight or something like The Bear and the Nightingale where history and folktales are put into a blender, metaphorically, and something new arrives there is more often than not an engaging […]

Why, yes: I do like fall best. It is just the superior season. I won’t be entertaining arguments.

Sophie's Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller

Sharing the Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story by Pat Zietlow Miller

September 23, 2021 by NTE Leave a Comment

Some kids are quirky; Different. In Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller, Illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf, Sophie is one of those kids. Instead of letting the squash her parents bought at the farmer’s market be relegated to their dinner table, she decides instead that the squash is just the right size to love; to “bounce on her knee;” to give a face, name Bernice & become her constant companion. After a while, & many library trips, garden somersaults, baby bottles, hugs and kisses later, nature […]

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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