Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

One of My Quickest and One of My Longest Reads This Year

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

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Several People Are Typing I had such a good time with this one! It’s told exclusively through Slack chat messages, which makes it a really fast read, and it is so funny. There is an ensemble cast, but Gerald is more or less the main character. He inexplicably finds his consciousness uploaded into Slack, and none of his co-workers at a PR firm believe him (understandably!) and assume he is just working from home and doing a comic bit. The main plot of the novel […]

Losers, Misfits, and Boozers

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

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Since I’m being cruelly tortured by being forced to wait a whole long week between episodes for the new season I’ve decided to go back and read the first book in the Slough House series. I’m sure waiting patiently is part of MI5 spy training, probably real advanced stuff. It is here we first meet Jackson Lamb and his motley collection of ‘slow horses’. Each one has disgraced themselves in some spectacular way and needs to be relegated somewhere they can’t do any more damage […]

“You make family where you can, and you make the best of a bad hand every time. That’s all you can do.”

By the Horns by Ruby Dixon

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CBR17 Bingo: B – Behold, the title. Gwenna is determined to join the Royal Artificer’s Guild, where she’ll be able to leave behind her past life as a maid – but between her budding necromantic powers and her growing attraction to Raptor, who suspects she may be a thief, her dream might be slipping out of reach. I utterly loved this book, which improves on the good points of the first book in the series (world-building, humor, and complex main and supporting characters) while improving […]

“Fine,” Grandpa said. “You fetch your evil Librarian mother from the jail. I’ll go warm up the giant penguin!”

The Dark Talent: Alcrataz vs. The Evil Librarians Book Five by Brandon Sanderson

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  After the events of the last book, The Shattered Lens,  Alcatraz Smedry and the ragtag army of relations and allies  must make their way to the heart of Librarian power to find the cure to Bastille’s and the Mokian’s comas: The Library of Congress. Alcatraz also has to stop his father, Attica, from implementing his plan of giving everyone in the world Talents like the Smedrys have, well had; Alcatraz broke them all in the big battle at the end of the previous book. […]

When in Doubt, Lie Your Tongue Off

Dangerous Obsession by Natasha Peters

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Rhawnie was born in a Romani encampment in Russia, but a murder and an encounter with a man she is fated to follow to the ends of the earth launch her on a path that will see her go halfway across the globe. It took me way too long to realize that Rhawnie is a corruption of the Indian name Rani, which means ‘queen’. This is a nice and long and adventurous bodice ripper of the kind I like perfectly. What sets it apart from […]

“What is the correct collective noun for us..? Maybe ‘a repugnance of twats’ is most apt?”

The Twat Files by Dawn French

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I am a big fan of British humor, whether on TV, film or the page. While I haven’t seen a lot of the French-Saunders comedy team’s sketch work, I know who they are. I am more familiar with Jennifer Saunders due to Ab Fab, but I was aware that Dawn French had a series called The Vicar of Dibley and I recognized her as “The Fat Lady” in the HP movie franchise. French has written several books, and this latest one The Twat Files got […]



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