Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Living that Summer Dream

Summer Spirit by Elizabeth Holleville

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Summer Spirit looked out from the top shelf. I am not sure how I saw it as my little over 5-foot frame does not usually see that far above my head! But once you learn the story, maybe you will think some supernatural events took place, making my eyes be drawn upwards. Or not. After all, ghosts are not real. No matter what Elizabeth Holleville says in their young adult graphic novel. Louise, her sister, and their cousins spend part of the summer with their […]

A 300 year saga that goes surprisingly quickly

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

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Addie LaRue was born in a small town in France. Over 300 years ago. It’s 2014, and swhe now lives in New York and survives by lying, stealing, pilfering, and taking advantage of her unusual gift (or curse), she is forgettable. Not as in plain or nondescript. Rather, once she leaves someone’s sight, they forget her and meet her all over again. This is mildly inconvenient in shops and movies theaters, but it is tragic with lovers and friends. Imagine having a perfect day with […]

A refreshingly complete story to start a magical series

The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith

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Elena is a toad, though she knows she knows that she should be a witch. Thus starts The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith. Elena breaks the curse on herself and returns to her home, Chateau Renard, a famed vineyard in France. What she finds is that her home has been sold to a lawyer-turned-winemaker who, instead of relying on a vine witch to support and augment the growth, harvest, and fermentation of grapes into wine, relies on science to create his wine to disappointing […]

“‘You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made,’ he said. ‘Even after you eat it, it stays with you – always.”

My Life in France by Julia Child

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This was such a lovely reading experience, for lots of reasons. I felt refreshed while reading it, and afterwards. I’ve since made a little hobby of revisiting old episodes of The French Chef on YouTube because they are calming and delightful (and I can make a French omelet now!). I spent a lot of time in my childhood watching PBS because my dad was cheap and wouldn’t pay for cable, so that meant lots of Julia Child. I remember not caring so much about the […]

The Past Is Not Through With Us

Shadow of a Tiger by Dennis Lynds (Michael Collins)

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The influence of Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer series is what originally drove me to this series. Dan Fortune can kind of be seen as Archer’s east coast counterpart, only he’s missing an arm and we know more about his personal life. In this one, Dennis Lynds (writing under the nom de plume “Michael Collins”) treads familiar territory for both he and his influencer: exploring the dirty deeds of a family. A recurring theme in many of these stories is the past often catches up to us. […]

Be she Rachel or Catherine, one girl learns to survive and be free while all the while, in hiding

Catherine’s War by Julia Billet

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Catherine’s War is a Holocaust story with a twist. This time a young, French-Jewish girl, Rachel, goes into hiding but does it in the open. She (and other children) do not stay in any one place too long (usually not by choice). They sometimes are only one step ahead of the Nazis at any point. Julia Billet created (and Ivanka Hahnenberger translated), Rachel, our narrator. Rachel goes to the progressive Sèvres Children’s Home where children of both faiths learn in a non-traditional setting. We see […]



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