Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

So much left unsaid

Somewhere in France: A Novel of the Great War by Jennifer Robson

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Historical fiction is one of my “go-to’s” when I need something to read, and fiction about WWI is usually grim but compelling. Pat Barker’s Regeneration Trilogy is brilliant, as is the classic All Quiet on the Western Front. WWI lit and films bring home the terrifying reality of trench warfare and its horrifying psychological impact on soldiers who endured it. Somewhere in France looked interesting to me because it centers on the experiences of a young woman, an ambulance driver at the front. Author Jennifer […]

In this life, you just never know what’s around the bend, be it a dead man or your next date.

The Maid by Nita Prose

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A lot of folks raved about this book. Not trying to sound all contrary, but I do not understand what the appeal is here. I am vexed. The plot is pretty easily summarized. Molly, a neuroatypical woman, was abandoned by her mother who suffered from drug addiction. She is raised by her grandmother and follows in her footsteps, when she graduates from high school, and becomes a maid. Extremely disciplined and focused on cleanliness, Molly is perfectly cut out for her occupation at a high […]

Strangers with shared memories.

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange

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My book club’s selections tend to skew towards generational turmoil and great cover art. This method has yielded some good ones and some clunkers. This one? Well, it falls somewhere in the middle. The Brennans are an upper middle class family living in a commuter town north of New York City. Both the mother and father are Irish immigrants who carved out a suburban white picket fence life for their four children: Denny the popular athlete, Jackie the senstive artist screw up, Sunday the dependable […]

I can’t tell if this is a good or bad thing.

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas

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So many thoughts. First and most important? Please get a new editor, Ms. Maas. A brutal editor or team of brutal editors is imperative for the next book. Your literary garden needs some serious weeding, lady. The blooms are there but they are choked under the kudzu. The weight of these books pushes me closer to carpal tunnel syndrome unnecessarily. End of rant. Well, maybe not…This book is another doorstop. Took me over a month to finish it. I nearly stopped reading it several times […]

Charm and irreverance happen to be my two favorite traits.

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

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Yep. Still riding the Maas train all the way to the station, I guess. This is the first book in the Crescent City series and it has all of the crazy world-building, will they won’t they, and wing-ed love interests that make a Maas book a Maas book. Whew. I really, really thought I was going to give up on this one until about 1/4 of the way in. Since this is an 800 page doorstop of a book, that was a good 200 pages of me […]

…perhaps, vehicle for every kind of fear, she contained enough for all.

The Hauting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

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Here is where I admit to relegating Shirley Jackson to a middle school English reading requirement.  I have hazy memories of reading The Lottery and thinking it was super creepy but not much more than that. I know, I know. Just wanted to start with a little honesty here. The only reason that I FINALLY grabbed a Jackson book from the library was that I fell completely in love with The Haunting of Hill House adaptation on Netflix. Not to make this a tv review, […]



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