Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

When the End Comes

Cult X by Fuminori Nakamura

Cell by Stephen King

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I recently read two books with apocalyptic overtones. Neither were great but both were eminently readable, if weird and unfocused… Cult X * Well then. It’s almost impossible for a book as popular as Fuminori Nakamura’s Cult X to get anything less than a 3+ star rating on GoodReads. A book usually has enough vociferous defenders who give it gratuitous 5s to put it over the top. That this one was hovering at 2.97 when I picked it up was not a good sign for […]

“There is always a road back. If we have the courage to look for it, and take it. I’m sorry. I was wrong. I don’t know. I need help. These are the signposts. The cardinal directions.”

A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #12) by Louise Penny

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This is one of my favorites in this series so far, right up there with #5 and #9. It gave me everything that I like about this series with very little of what I don’t. A lot of authors by book twelve are just turning the cogs, phoning it in, and things can get stale. Penny at the very least seems to know how to keep things feeling fresh and new, and yet still give you the comfort of returning to check in with the […]

crystalclear read my mind!

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian

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Way back in the olden days of 2020, the amazing crystalclear sent some inspired picks my way for CBR Book Exchange. Hooray! I kicked off the new year with one of their thoughtful additions to my TBR pile; I had wanted to read Storm Front for some time thanks to the lovely folks here at CBR. The other book, The Light in the Ruins, was a book with which I was unfamiliar. I was immediately excited and impressed after reading the cover copy, as I […]

Reading, Reading, Reading, RAWHIDE!

The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey

The Dame by Richard Stark

Tricky by Josh Stallings

Quarry's Deal by Max Alan Collins

The Plea by Steve Cavanagh

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I read a lot last week but also had a busy week at work (a good busy). Every time I tried to write a review on one of these books, all of them good, I just didn’t have the time or energy. So here’s a big update dump of the stuff I read in the last week and I’d be glad to tease them out more in the comments if anyone is curious… “The True History of the Kelly Gang” I enjoyed large parts of […]

A Trip Down the Green Mile

The Green Mile by Stephen King

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What a depressing book. From start-to-finish, I couldn’t wait to be done. Every turn of the page seemed to bring on a new horror. From squashed mice and executions gone terribly wrong, to evil-hearted characters and an unsatisfactory ending, there was plenty to be upset about. That said, Stephen King’s The Green Mile was no disappointment. Here’s a quick summary, so you know what I’m talking about: Paul Edgecome, a death row correctional officer, is responsible for carrying out the death penalty for those assigned […]

monologuing at the mouth of madness

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell

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A strong opening pulls us directly into the spooky fold; a seamstress with a secret hurls herself from a very important man’s very high attic window. The House on Vesper Sands has all of the hallmarks of a Victorian throw-back; mazes of manners, decrepit mansions, and gin-soaked police populate a scuzzy world of destitute working girls, complicated family histories, and genteel young men all-aflutter. The Spiritualist movement is in full-swing and a cloaked and creepy group of “Spiriters” may be responsible for a rash of […]



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