Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Fairy Tales Can Be Deadly

The Last Tale of The Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

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This book is the very definition of the word Gothic. It belongs on the shelves next to Jane Eyre and Rebecca.  As in Rebecca, the main character in the novel isn’t given a name. He is just referred to as The Bridegroom. The Bridegroom is a curator of myths, legends, and fairy tales. While tracking down a rare book, he encounters Indigo Maxwell-Castenada, an heiress to a massive fortune, and a woman obsessed with fairy tales. They get married rather quickly, and she makes him […]

If Mr. Darcy was a Vampire

My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine

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Cassie is a starving artist. She juggles 2 jobs just to barely make ends meet, so when she sees an ad for a huge apartment with crazy-cheap rent, she jumps at the opportunity, even if she is extremely suspicious of the deal. She should be. Turns out her roommate is a 300-year-old vampire who has just woken up from a 100-year hibernation and he is completely clueless about the modern world. Frederick J. Fitzwilliam dresses like an Austen character and he has no idea how […]

Darling it’s Better Down Where it’s Wetter, Take it From Me

A Duet With The Siren Duke by Elise Kova

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Victoria is in a terrible, shitty, no-good marriage. Her husband charmed her when she was very young and impressionable and persuaded her to move to an island in the middle of freaking nowhere and become his assistant lighthouse keeper. Also to cook and clean and obey his every little whim. Basically, he sucks. He sucks so bad that I have forgotten his name and I can’t be bothered to go look it up. One night, Victoria decided to run away. Except they are on an […]

The brain can go wrong in some crazy ways

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks

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CBR15 BINGO: Strange Worlds, because these essays take you into the very strange world of the mind BINGO: Strange Worlds, Queer Lives, You Are Here, Asia & Oceania, Picture This When I studied abnormal psychology in college, my favorite parts of the textbook were those little side-blurbs that described specific cases of people afflicted with weird brain conditions. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat reads a lot like those side blurbs. In this book, neurologist Oliver Sacks (of Awakenings fame), describes 24 […]

CBR15 Bingo: Guide (Double bingo)

A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari

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3.5 stars CBR15 Bingo: Guide (it’s right there in the title) Official book description, because I’m still reviewing books I read in JULY): London, 1923. Newly minted research assistant Saffron Everleigh attends a dinner party for the University College of London. While she expects to engage in conversations about the university’s large expedition to the Amazon, she doesn’t expect Mrs. Henry, one of the professors’ wives to drop to the floor, poisoned by an unknown toxin. Dr. Maxwell, Saffron’s mentor, is the main suspect, having […]

Audiobooks, take me away!

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan

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A hundred years or so ago, I had an office job I hated that also had a horribly long commute. Desperate for entertainment, I started checking audiobooks out of the library. Suddenly my 45-minute drive was filled with stories and the drive didn’t feel nearly as long as it was. Audiobooks have come a long way since 2007. Now there are multi-cast recordings, graphic audio adaptations with sound effects, and celebrity memoirs narrated by the actual celebrities who wrote them. Julia Whelan is a giant […]



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