Historic fiction – Cannonball Read 17

One of my year’s best already?

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

February 28, 2023 by genericwhitegirl Leave a Comment

This historic drama has all the elements I love about a book – great characters and a compelling story that we follow through several generations of the same family, from Korea to Japan and beyond. In the background of Pachinko is Japan’s occupation of Korea and the experience of Koreans in Japan before, during, and after this occupation. We begin in the 1880s in Korea. Hoonie is the son of parents who run a boardinghouse for fisherman. Their lives are meager, but stable. Hoonie eventually […]

Not all heroes wear capes, but some do!

Cape by Kate Hannigan

July 21, 2019 by crystalclear Leave a Comment

I picked this up mainly for the cover. It is bright and makes me think the story inside is going to be exciting. And it is! Our story follows Josie O’Malley, an Irish-American (I think she’s an immigrant, but she might be first-generation.) She spends her time working at a diner to help out with the household expenses, which is a big help since her father is fighting in WWII. She is also trying to control her temper while trying to fight the injustices she […]

Bad Impulses

July 17, 2017 by Gracey the Giant Leave a Comment

Although I have a “To Read” list on Goodreads and have books and authors scribbled down on the backs of various envelopes and whatnot, I am also a pretty impulsive reader. Especially at my favorite local used book store. It’s a wonderful place where they give you credit for any books you bring in and also offer a 50% discount when you use that trade credit. When I’m there, I completely ignore my scribbles and my “To Read” list and just buy books on impulse. […]

A future past where you become plant, clone, or cyborg when you die

February 26, 2017 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

The first few books are fun historical fiction adventure, steampunk; I haven’t read book 3 yet, but 1 and 2 are pretty good. The 4th gets a little dark but remains mostly similar. This one gets dystopic and loses the fun. Nearly every major character is killed off and brought back as a plant, descendant, cyborg, or clone, or a combination of the above. It gets stupid and meaningless. Burton and Spring-heeled Jack are both back and neither one has a clear head. Jack can’t […]

A Finishing School of Covert *itchcraft and Social Wizardry

June 18, 2015 by CoffeeShopReader 1 Comment

I had a harder time getting into this book as I have with other series buy the same author. I did eventually start to like the characters once they got to the school and some of the events leading up to the arrival were better explained. The encounter with flywaymen made little sense at first given that I had no idea what they were and the other characters hadn’t been especially well detailed at this early point. The explanation provided during the attack just didn’t […]

Like Shakespeare – but written by someone alive!

February 22, 2015 by staramour 3 Comments

I bought this book based on a recommendation at a local independent book store while in pursuit of a local author (Washington DC). Only in reviewing it do I realize it’s the first book in a trilogy, an allergy recently developed from Annihilation. Why did I read another book in a trilogy? It’s not an overly fair complaint, since I eventually enjoyed the book quite a bit. (And that it had nothing to do with Washington DC, but I took the recommendation without even reading the […]

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