Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

..they suspended their arguments, united for once in their astonishment at the unusual spectacle of an elephant lumbering across the square.

The Elephant of Belfast by S. Kirk Walsh

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CBR14 BINGO: Elephant Square (Another literal one. Sometimes googling for the square yields great results, sometimes not so much. ) In 1940s Belfast, a young woman working at the local zoo sees the arrival of a new baby elephant as her opportunity to prove herself. Hoping to become the first female zookeeper at the Belfast zoo, Hettie quickly takes on the responsibility of handling the elephant in addition to all of the menial responsibilities delegated to her. Work is her escape after Hettie’s father abandons […]

A heart removed, returned, and gifted: Maiden, Mother, Crone

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

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CBR14 Bingo: “Cold” Bingo! – Winter lasts for three years before the start of Ragnarok. Mobius_Walker’s  review of The Witch’s Heart brought it to my attention last year during bingo and now it’s my turn to review The Witch’s Heart for bingo.  My knowledge of Norse mythology is sketchy at best.  It’s mostly gleaned through other works drawing on Norse mythology (such as Neil Gaiman’s American Gods) and pop culture.  This did not hinder my enjoyment of the book.  It also meant that I didn’t have any preconceived […]

You are not the arbiter of knowledge, sir. You are its librarian.

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

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CBR14 BINGO: Question square (I was going to give this the Gaslight square until I read the author’s note: “This book began as two simple questions: Do words mean different things to men and women? And if they do, is it possible that we have lost something in the process of defining them.” Question square it is.) This one will definitely be on my favorite books of the year list. Hearbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure. Esme’s father is an Oxford lexicographer working on creating the […]

No one had ever told them that at the end there was a choice and it is not the dying who make it.

The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan

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CBR14 BINGO: Bird square (Full disclosure: this book is not about birds. In my defense of this square filler, the book’s blurb mentions orange-bellied parrots. Parrots do appear in the story, albeit briefly, and I’m counting it because I had to read this book and I want credit for it.) Did you ever read a book that you knew would be considered a masterpiece by a lot of people, could even understand why people would think that and still find the reading of it not worth […]

I am a bad mother but I am learning to be good.

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

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CBR14 BINGO: Rec’d Square (Barack Obama’s Summer 2022 Reading List. And, just about everybody’s book club recommends this.) This is a really tough one to review without giving BIG plot points away. Proceed with caution. It’s easy to feel guilty when you’re a mother. When my son was born almost 7 weeks early, a social worker came to visit me in my hospital room while he was still in the NICU. From what I remember from that day 17 years ago, the social worker was kind […]

“You’re going to make me love you, aren’t you?” “I’m sure going to try.”

Scandalized by Ivy Owens

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CBR14 Bingo: “Scandal” A few weeks back, Mysterious Galaxy featured Scandalized on their Instagram with rave reviews.  I needed a book for the ‘Scandal’ square and decided to pre-order it.  When I picked it up, the booksellers commented that four of the staff had finished it with in 24-48 hours.  I brought it home around noon on Thursday.  It is now Saturday afternoon (as of the start of writing this review) and I’ve read it twice.  The MG staff and myself aren’t the only ones swooning over […]



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