Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

This Book Could Have Stayed A Secret

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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If you want a book where the author is obviously impressed with both the sound of their own voice and their cleverness, definitely buy this one. Every page just screamed “I’m trying to write the next Great Novel!” as the writing dragged on and on. Time lost meaning reading this book; I’d read for 12 hours and cover 1/3 of the book only to discover I had actually read for 20 minutes and had finished 2 paragraphs. The plot (such as it is), centers around […]

The 800-page Gorilla

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

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The Goldfinch is certainly not short on acclaim. It won the Pulitzer, and was ranked one of the 100 best novels of the century by the New York Times. It has the kind of premise other writers would die for: a young man visits the Metropolitan Museum with his mother, and when a bomb goes off in the building, walks off with her favorite painting. Theo Decker is the boy in question. Theo is 13 and it’s just him and his mom at home after […]

I need more stars

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

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Trigger Warning for abuse, violence, depression, suicidal thoughts, drug abuse, addiction I’ve had a copy of this book for years, knowing from its blurb and from what I’ve read about it that I would probably love it, but at 960 pages, it’s a brick and a bit intimidating to start. I finally decided to tackle it, and I finished it in less than a week. I would have finished within days if not for the pesky need for sleep and doing laundry and the like. […]

What can I say that hasn’t already been said?

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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The Story: the narrator (Richard, although his name is used so rarely that I kept forgetting what it was) leaves an unhappy existence in California to attend the small, private Hampden College in Vermont. There, he decides to study Greek under an enigmatic professor, Julian, alongside a small, elitist group of other Classics students: cold and intellectual Henry, anxious hypochondriac Francis, twins Charles and Camilla (I wish I could find descriptors for these other than “twin,” but unfortunately they’re both very thinly drawn), and Bunny, […]

It was a relief and a horror to be known so perfectly.

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

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I’m not sure if I can categorize this book as dark academia, but the characters and the story remind me so much of what I enjoyed about “If We Were Villains” and “The Secret History,” it is impossible for me not to draw parallels between them. All three stories are linked by a sudden and violent death, and how those left behind cope with their secrets. Paul is a seventeen-year-old who has recently graduated from high school. He lives with his mother and his two […]

Full Cannonball, Total Banger

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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Alright, maybe not a total banger – more like a satisfyingly slow burn – but I wanted to finish my Cannonball Read with something I’ve wanted to read for a while and it ended up being this. I was planning on reading it someday, so when I came across a copy in at a thrift store (cost me about three bucks in conjunction with The Little Friend) I figured fate was trying to tell me something.  I was working as a lowly book shop employee […]



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