Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Voluptuary, Writer, Gourmand

The Gastronomical Me by MFK Fisher

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Bingo: “G” And with this I black out my Bingo card!! MFK Fisher’s The Gastronomical Me is a feast. Fisher transmits her memories through the lens of food, in which she takes the most sensual pleasure. Raised by a grandmother who saw food as strictly utilitarian, Fisher remembers her saying, “‘Eat what’s set before you, and be thankful for it,’ Grandmother said often; or in other words, “Take what God has created and eat it humbly and without sinful pleasure.” Fisher, fiercely independent and fascinated […]

Am I losing my sense of humor, or is Christopher Moore losing his?

Anima Rising by Christopher Moore

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CBR 17 BINGO: Arts, because Gustav Klimt and his contemporaries figure into the plot Double BINGO! Across: Arts, Borrow, Citizen, Work, White Diagonal: Arts, Red, N, Diaspora, Rec’d I’ve been a Christopher Moore fan for a long time. (Who doesn’t love Lamb and The Stupidest Angel?) Not all his novels are brilliant, and even in my own household we don’t always agree on what works and what doesn’t (I love Fool and its sequels, while my husband doesn’t care for them at all; he loves […]

“In life, if you were careful, there were simply not that many times where you absolutely, positively had to turn into a bear.”

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher

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Bingo: I am using this for the “Red” Bingo square. because the cover is red. Istvhan is a former berserker, a paladin left without a god. Clara is a were-nun from an order of shapeshifting sisters. He is on the trail of a mysterious killer; she is on a mission to rescue her kidnapped sisters. As their quests bring them together, they will face bandits, creepy rabbits, living crockery, gladiator pits, and maybe (just maybe) emotional vulnerability. This was a fun addition to T. Kingfisher’s […]

“It’s more important to be a good listener than a good musician.”

How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy

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Bingo: I am using my free space for this one, in the “TBR” space (I don’t really maintain a TBR list, so this one would have been difficult to complete). That also makes this my second Bingo! Woo! I am not a Wilco superfan. I’ve listened to and enjoyed their music, but I don’t think I could name a single Wilco song off the top of my head. When I heard about this book though, written by Wilco’s lead singer, the title piqued my interest. […]

“Jesus, who would want to read about a failed old nun, with her stipend, and second-hand shoes.”

Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd

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What a kooky mystery book. My mom was visiting for the last few days and she and I love to get our blankets and read (which we indulged in doing) so she was perfectly placed to ask me what was going on within the fun orange cover of this book. The quick logline doesn’t really capture the vibe of the book, though, and I don’t know whether I sold her on it or not. Murder at Gulls Nest features Nora, a former Carmelite nun who has left her order after three decades and is on the hunt for a […]

Storytelling to Keep Tigers at Bay

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo

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cbr17bingo – Black (4th BINGO, I think) I am once again impressed at how much Nghi Vo can fit into a novella. She conveys so much about the world of the Singing Hills Cycle in so few pages. In this one sentence alone, for example, we get humor, history, and religion: “Not long after Dieu skirted the Battle of Kirshan—where General Peirong was killed by a raging bull that went on to become the king of Kirshan—she came around a bend in the road to find […]



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