Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Of all the myriad races of thinking creatures in the world, the two that most delight in telling stories are the flesh-and-blood humans and the long-lived, fiery jinn.”

The Hidden Palace (The Golem & The Jinni, #2) by Helene Wecker

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I’m having a hard time reviewing this one, mostly because I had a hard time deciding what I thought about it. But I’m on the verge of getting hopelessly behind in reviews again, so it’s time to buckle down and figure it out. I was thinking about the book this morning and I think I’ve finally formed some solid opinions, so here we go. This is a book about change in all its forms: death (and grief), destruction, creation, evolution, the way a person changes […]

A Kennedy I know little about.

The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher

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“If you didn’t know already that Kathleen’s a fighter,” said Rose, her normally shrill voice unusually smooth and low, “then you haven’t been paying attention.” Growing up as a Kennedy woman comes with a specific set of rules. The first being: marry a good Catholic boy from a notable family. The second being: Once you’re married, your only jobs are to have children and keep a full social calendar. Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy is aware of what is expected of her as she is presented to […]

I fell in love with you the day that I met you, and then I fell in love with the person you remembered you are. I got to fall in love with you twice.”

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

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CBR13 Bingo: they/he/she (the author is non-binary and bisexual (and uses any pronouns) and the book features pretty much all iterations of the queer spectrum, I’m not sure there is a straight character of any significance in the whole book) Official book description: Cynical twenty-three-year old August doesn’t believe in much. She doesn’t believe in psychics, or easily forged friendships, or finding the kind of love they make movies about. And she certainly doesn’t believe her ragtag band of new roommates, her night shifts at […]

A book I loved years ago is still great on re-read.

The Golem and the Jinni (The Golem and the Jinni, #1) by Helene Wecker

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This was just as good the second time. Not going to do a whole huge review because I’m tired, and I’d rather be reading the sequel instead of writing things. I still think this is an absolutely lovely portrayal of the immigrant experience, both in the way it portrays actual historical immigrant communities (particularly Little Syria and the Jewish communities in NYC) and in the way that Wecker uses the outsized fantastical experiences of the golem and the jinni (Chava and Ahmad, as they become […]

I’m not clockwork.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

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CBR13 BINGO: Machinery Big thanks to Merryn for using this novel for the Machinery square. Very clever way to fill a square that would have otherwise had me stumped or using up my free/pandemic options. Machinery with magical shenanigans is more my speed. Thanks! This novel dips its toes into multiple genre pools: historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy and a dash of romance. It’s hard to find a story uninteresting if it can bring together the Fenian bombings of 1884, the premiere of Gilbert and […]

Facts, fiction, and women’s work

The Daring Ladies of Lowell: A Novel by Kate Alcott

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Cbr13bingo Machinery The Daring Ladies of Lowell is  a work of historical fiction set in a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1832-33. In addition to including much historical fact about women’s working conditions and life at the mill, it also involves a love story and a murder mystery taken from real life.  Kate Alcott (pen name for Patricia O’Brien) takes her readers into the world of her fictional heroine Alice Barrow as she begins work at the mill, gets to know her fellow workers in […]



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