Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

pay no attention to the striking workers in the corner, they won’t be a key factor in this novel nope

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

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BINGO: without much futzing I think “border” is very apt for this book, which considers the cultural divide between the North and South of England. With that comes a second (well, third) bingo line hot take it’s like pride and prejudice except pulled forward a bunch of years and we get a lot more of what’s going on in Darcy’s head (no shade meant to Ms. Gaskell for the cliche comparison) A very, very long overdue recommendation from Vatsala, who recommended the TV series (“dreamy”) […]

Pride, Prejudice and Social Justice

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

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During my high school years, I was introduced to Jane Austen and the Brontes but for some reason never Elizabeth Gaskell. She was a contemporary of the Brontes, friend to and biographer of Charlotte, and in her novel North and South she channels both the dark undercurrents of the Brontes and the romance of Austen. Over the years, on social media, I’ve seen references to “ThorntonThursdays” with pictures and video clips but I only recently discovered that they came from the 2004 BBC series North […]

I brung Pedro home for Thanksgiving break and tomorrow I have to bring him back to school.

Providence by Caroline Kepnes

Flight from the Enchanter by Iris Murdoch

High Crime Area by Joyce Carol Oates

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Real Sherlock by Lucinda Hawksley

Agent 355 by Marie Benedict

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Providence: 2/5 Stars The newer novel by Caroline Kepnes of YOU fame. It’s…well, it’s not great. There’s so many of the same pieces that made You a good, if goofily rehashed novel, are there, but serving this story they just don’t work as well. The plot here is that a young boy is kidnapped by a former substitute teacher. While he’s missing his best friend grows into her adolescence and loses touch with that connection, but she’s haunted by images of his eyes, his presence, […]

A novel published in serial form and it shows

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

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Margaret Hale is the daughter of a country pastor who has had a sudden crisis of faith and has given up his position. Margaret has spent several years living with her aunt and cousin as a well-loved household assistant, but has recently returned to her parents’ home upon her cousin’s marriage. Shortly after moving home her father informs her that he will be moving the family to an industrial town in north England. Margaret’s father is too much a coward to tell his wife about […]

does the rich man share his plenty with me, as he ought to do, if his religion wasn’t a humbug?

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

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This was Elizabeth Gaskell’s first book, and is the second book by her which I’ve read. It’s really two books in one – the first, concentrating on John Barton (father of the titular Mary Barton) is a screed about structural inequality and capital versus labor, and the second, a courtroom drama focused around Mary Barton’s romantic travails. As is often the case with Victorian melodramas, Mrs. Gaskell took her time getting going – about the first third of the book, focused on John Barton and […]

The cutest little old ladies

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Cranford is such a lovely little book. I’m a big fan of both North & South and Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, so I’m slowly making my way to her other books. Cranford is less of a traditional novel than the other two books. Really, it’s a set of connected vignettes or novellas. Most of the action takes place in tiny Cranford and within the social circle of the highest class in the town. It’s a long running joke in the novel that Cranford […]



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