ElCicco – Page 3 – Cannonball Read 17

”He still doesn’t know who he’s most scared of: the hooligans with tattoos or the hooligans with ties and suits.”

Us Against You: A Novel by Fredrik Backman

September 3, 2025 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr17bingo Play (hockey) bingo Us Against You is the second novel in Backman’s Beartown trilogy, something I didn’t realize until I was well into the novel. I haven’t read book 1, Beartown, but as it turns out, it doesn’t matter much. Anything important from that story is more or less explained in the course of this one. The trilogy is about the people of Beartown, a small remote town in Sweden, where hockey is more than just a game. It is the heart of the […]

A cautionary tale for us all

The Lion Women of Tehran: A Novel by Marjan Kamali

August 28, 2025 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr17bingo Culture (would also fit diaspora) Perhaps you have seen this meme recently — a row of eight women wearing western fashions in the 1970s in Iran. These women were members of Parliament, but by the end of the decade, revolution forced Iranian women out of public life and back into traditional garb, covered from head to toe, and subject to punishment for exercising their rights. I’m old enough to remember when the Shah went into exile and the Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran to […]

“Me, I don’t have a name. I lost it in battle, like the knight who lost his shield.”

The Coin: A Novel by Yasmin Zaher

August 25, 2025 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr17bingo Migrant (bingo) The main character has moved from her native Palestine to the US The Coin is narrated by an unnamed main character, a woman maybe in her 30s who left Palestine for New York City but has an uncomfortable relationship with the city and its people. She is telling her story to someone. Is she talking to another unnamed person? To us? To herself? The narrator is fascinating, intelligent woman of wealth and taste, but she also a few neuroses that make her […]

A reminder of the importance of a good editor

Greatest Short Stories by Women - Grapevine Collectible by Virginia Woolf et. al

August 25, 2025 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr17bingo purple Virginia Woolf, Kate Chopin, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen — these are just a few of the 17 women writers whose works are featured in this collection. While I enjoyed most of the stories, the publisher/editors made some very strange and aggravating choices that left me bewildered. No editors are listed, and no forward or afterward is offered to explain what criteria were used to determine which writers and stories were included. The 17 stories range in original publication dates from 1832 to 1926, […]

“We overlooked each other’s flaws and treated each other well, even when we didn’t deserve it.”

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat: A Novel by Edward Kelsey Moore

August 22, 2025 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr17bingo Family (bingo); the story revolves around three friends who are like sisters to each other and their families I heard about this 2013 novel accidentally. The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat was turned into a movie last year and someone posted a clip on social media that got my attention. I haven’t watched the movie yet, but the novel was a wonderful read. It is the story of three women — Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean — who have been friends since their teenaged years […]

Skeletons in the closet

The Ghostwriter: A Novel by Julie Clark

August 19, 2025 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr17bingo G (bingo) The Ghostwriter is a crime/unsolved murder novel that revolves around a father and daughter who are estranged from one another. Their relationship has been damaged by substance abuse, lies and secrets but an unusual set of circumstances reunites them. Will this be an opportunity to mend fences and resolve a sensational double murder? Or will it lead to charges against dear old dad? In June 1975, the bodies of teenaged siblings Poppy and Danny Taylor were discovered stabbed to death in their […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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