Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Once upon a time there was a house…

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

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The Dutch House is a novel that has a fairy tale vibe to it. The house is, of course, central to the story and it’s kind of like a castle — it has a history of its own and a presence in the community. The Dutch House is a sign of wealth and a connection to the main characters’ past. Author Ann Patchett also gives the reader an evil stepmother, a missing queen, and a father/king who seems caught up in his material wealth while […]

Night Witches and Nazi Hunters!

The Huntress: A Novel by Kate Quinn

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A couple of Cannonballs ago, I reviewed Kate Quinn’s novel The Alice Network, a work of historical fiction about female spies and the two world wars. With The Huntress, Quinn returns to familiar ground. This riveting novel is set during WWII and the five years following the end of the war. Like The Alice Network, The Huntress features strong female characters who defy social norms, taking on jobs traditionally reserved for men and insisting on getting their due. It’s a long story that reads very […]

Dysfunction Junction

Sisters: A Novel by Daisy Johnson

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If you enjoy a novel with a questionable/unreliable narrator, then Sisters is for you. Clocking in at just over 200 pages, it is the kind of book you could get through in a day, and the plot is such that the reader will want to find out exactly what has happened and why. This makes it a little tricky to review without spoilers, but here we go. Teenagers July and September are sisters, with only 10-months difference in their ages. September is definitely the dominant […]

“We need new songs.”

The Silence of the Girls: A Novel by Pat Barker

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I recently reviewed Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles for CBR12 bingo, and I referred to it as a gateway into a genre I call “reimagined classics” or “classics fanfic”. The Silence of the Girls is yet another outstanding addition to this genre and it happens to overlap with The Song of Achilles, presenting several main characters and incidents from The Iliad from a very different perspective. Pat Barker imagines for us the life of Briseis, a Trojan princess who becomes Achilles’ slave. Through the […]

Kitchen Staple/Bingo Blackout

I’m Just Here for the Food by Alton Brown

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Cbr12bingo How To, BINGO BLACKOUT I’ve had this book on the shelf for nearly 2 decades. It was published in 2002 (with a version 2 published in 2006), and I’m sure I got it soon after it came out. My husband and I were (and are) great fans of Alton Brown and loved “Good Eats” when it aired. We learned so much from Alton Brown, notably how to make the best chocolate chip cookies and how to make gravy from roux. Brown is an engaging […]

“No matter how much you give to this heart, it will never be enough.”

The Story of a Goat: A Novel by Perumal Murugan, trans. N. Kalyan Raman

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CBR12 bingo Reader’s Choice (substitute for White Whale) BINGO horizontal, Fresh Start to Book Club The Story of a Goat is a short novel by acclaimed Indian writer Perumal Murugan. Set amongst the poor farmers and herders of a small village, it provides the points of view of both an older couple and a small black goat named Poonachi as they struggle with the elements, bureaucracy, and the luck that fate throws at them. Like Orwell’s Animal Farm, The Story of a Goat is a commentary […]



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