Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

For good reading on a plane, you can’t go wrong with Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

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When I told Ms. Was I had downloaded Sense and Sensibility (among other things) for a long flight I’d be taking, she said, “Well, you can’t go wrong with Jane Austen.” Were truer words ever spoken? Some Austen novels might be better than others, but they are all solid entertainment for passing the time, whether you are curled up with a cup of tea on a rainy day or wedged into a tight airplane seat and taking a break from binge-watching episodes of The Office. […]

Romance Lost on Me

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

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I don’t do well with conventional romance novels; I don’t have much patience for personal drama among other reasons. For some reason though I’m usually ok with romantasy, and queer romances. I figured a Jane Austen riff should be safe; wrong. If you take away the manners and the romanticized culture/world, these people are terrible. There’s no one to really like. Not even the couples. You’re supposed to like at least one character in a romance, or least have a couple you hope gets things/themselves […]

“As Charlotte plummeted to the ground, still locked in Alex’s arms, she recollected Miss Plim’s warning that kissing a man was bad for one’s health.”

The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton

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4.5 stars Everyone knows there’s no such thing as witches, but if there were, they probably wouldn’t use magic in flashy and extravagant ways to fly houses around and try to rob and assassinate one another. If there were witches, they would probably use their magic in tidier ways, ensuring polite society was functioning properly. Possibly liberate those who have excessive financial resources of some of it to the betterment of those with less of it (like say, themselves). If there were witches, Charlotte Pettifer […]

Mr. Willoughby Rides Again

The Late Mrs. Willoughby (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, #2) by Claudia Gray

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I enjoy this series so much. There’s just something so pleasurable about watching a talented author who knows Jane Austen’s work in all the right ways play around in that world and with those characters, and then add in a well-executed murder mystery on top of that and I’m gonna be happy no question. This is like, the essence of good fanfic, except it’s polished, professionally published fanfic (hence my shelf name). So last time we had Mr. Wickham getting his just desserts, and this […]

“We might be useful, but we shall most certainly be improper.“

The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray

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I am enjoying Claudia Gray’s Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney mystery series so much. This second outing in the Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney mysteries feels heavier than the first. In The Murder of Mr. Wickham, the victim was one of Jane Austen’s least sympathetic characters. I certainly don’t advocate for murdering people, but Mr. Wickham’s violent demise did not cause distress. In The Late Mrs. Willoughby, we get no such comfort. Mrs. Willoughby may not be the nicest or most charming person, but she is […]

Jane Austen (2)

Persuasion by Jane Austen

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Another student review review. Here of Persuasion, which I have read now five times in the last year. So I asked them to write a capsule review, a haiku or a limerick about it:   Lovely book with lots of marriage and relationships that people are either really excited about or not because of the money and land they possess.   There once was a girl named Anne Third favorite of three in her fam She almost got married, But her dad got her harried […]



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