Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Return to Massacre Manor

Apprentice To The Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

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I ended last year’s Cannonball with Assistant to the Villain so I think it’s quite appropriate that my hold for the second book in this fabulous series came in just in time for this one. I’ll try to keep it as non-spoilery as possible but get ready for more wacky hijinks! Now having said that the first book did end on a big ol cliffhanger that really almost killed me having to wait a whole year to find out what happens. You’ll be pleased to […]

“a human looking glass: the light cast by fame bounced off her, and back on to those facing her” CBRBINGO – Golden

Q: A Voyage Around the Queen by Craig Brown

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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. I’m so glad I took a chance on this one and requested the ARC. It was so much fun! It avoided literally everything that usually makes me avoid reading biographies: the tedious linear structure, the grandiloquence and navel-gazing that comes with writing about a much-lauded (or controversial) figure (and the author trying to “earn it”), and to be honest, the dull bits. Q: A Voyage Around the Queen is not […]

“Big Jim’s eyeball fell out. Like, fell the fuck out of his head. It rolled onto the grass, and to be honest, Big Jim and I were both taken aback.”

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

Feral Creature by Kira Jane Buxton

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CBR16 Bingo: Earth Day – This series revolves around how the natural world starts asserting itself upon the planet when the human race dies out in a pseudo-zombie apocalypse. Hollow Kingdom – 4 stars ST, a domesticated crow, finds himself unexpectedly in the midst of the extinction of the human race, and must make the best of it. I am an animal lover, and so I loved this book. As a pet owner, I found myself fascinated by the exploration of what may become of […]

“Comedy is laughter in the face of death”

Wyrd Sisters (1988) by Terry Pratchett

Witches Abroad (1991) by Terry Pratchett

Lords and Ladies (1992) by Terry Pratchett

Carpe Jugulum (1998) by Terry Pratchett

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These are re-reads, these are beloved, these are–I suggest–suitable for the fanfic square because they are riotous and revelrous games with Shakespeare plays and fairy stories and Dracula and witch traditions, even while they question the logics behind them. For example, as Pratchett points out, witches would probably not be dancing around nude during their eldritch rites because it would get quite chilly. Wyrd Sisters (1988) Autocorrect keeps trying to make wyrd into ‘word’, which is fitting, because this is a book partly about the […]

“Good for her, not for me.”

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

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In five words: Memoir, Frank, Wisdom, Femalehood, Funny This is my fifth time reading this book and I know it won’t be the last. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are two women I admire for their humor. I had the opportunity to see their live show and it was everything I had ever hoped for, seeing these funny women in person, in their element as friends having spent their adult lives sharing a comedy stage, first at Second City and later on Saturday Night Live. […]

“I’m a man who will always choose to know.”

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

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CBR16 Bingo: Horses – The horses are all but extinct in this world, and they are so dearly missed that the possession of one means possession of power. Kinch, a thief drowning in debt, is promised that he’ll be square with the Takers Guild if he accompanies the knight Galva on her mysterious mission to a giant-infested kingdom. I’m a rather utilitarian reader, happy with solid plotting and characterization, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate when a particularly enjoyable turn of phrase crosses […]



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