Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Bingo #4

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

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In an effort to read some spooky literature for this, the high holy season of Halloween, I went for one of my comfortable standbys, good old Neil Gaiman. Winning both the Hugo and the Nebula awards in 2003 and 2004 for best novella, Coraline deserves all the acclaim it received. Clocking in at only a little over 100 pages, Gaiman works his magic to build a terrifying little universe in a short space. Even though this book was in the children’s section of my library, […]

When your first female friend shows you that change can be good as well as nervous making

Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

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Friends With Boys is more a three and half as something was missing for me. It also feels like a second book should happen but has not. I know the author/illustrator, Faith Erin Hicks, is no stranger to series (I have the Nameless City series on my TBR list) therefore, it might not be unheard of. Yet, at the same time, this is a standalone title. There is an open-ended completion to the story. And because of that, a second read is recommended. I know […]

A little bit romance, history, and ghost story

Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

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I have a friend who is an Outlander fanatic.  She re-reads the series every couple of years and the book associated with the tv series season before it is aired.  For the past couple of years at Christmas, I have given her Outlander calendars and one year an Outlander cook book (which she used and it has good recipes!).  Last year I wanted to introduce her to a new author.  My favorite local independent bookstore gave me a couple of recommendations but I settled on […]

Dreadful in name only

Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw

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Yay for new kinda favorite series! The thing for me that distinguishes a favorite from something enjoyable is how re-readable a book is. While I was waiting for the second book to get to my mailbox, I reread the first, and it was as much fun as the first time. After reading Dreadful Company (book 2), I started rereading it about a week later. Still fun. Dreadful Company features many of the same characters from the first novel including Dr. Greta Helsing, physician to things […]

Stories without endings can do nothing but go on forever, and to be caught in one means that you must die before your part in it is played out.

City of Glass by Paul Auster

Ghosts by Paul Auster

The Locked Room by Paul Auster

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I think I either almost read or tried to read this when I was younger — college aged or so — and for whatever reason didn’t. I kind of wished I had stuck with it, because I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more then. That’s not to say that a) I feel like I have missed out all these years or b) that I happen to like it now. I didn’t exactly like this book, and maybe don’t feel like I have […]

A girl, her ghost friend, and adventure in Edinburgh (bonus review from Ysakitty)

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

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Previous novels by Victoria (V.E.) Schwab were intended for adults and teens, City of Ghosts was written for a middle grade audience.  I give it a three stars for being a solid book but no higher as it shared several concepts with her “Monsters of Verity” duology, which were the most recent books of Ms. Schwab’s that I’ve read. As a result, City of Ghosts didn’t feel very fresh to me,  especially when you take into account the variety of her collected works. In City of Ghosts, as in “Monsters […]



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