Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A trauma victim finds her strength

Medusa by Jessie Burton

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Cbr14bingo Shadow Medusa lives in a cave, hides in the shadows from Perseus and is a shadow of herself because of what happened to her. This book would fit for the snake or monster squares as well. This YA novel (for 9th grade and older) with beautiful illustrations by Olivia Lomenech Gill, reimagines the myth of Medusa, a woman with snakes for hair whose glance could turn men to stone. In the original myth, Poseidon raped Medusa in Athena’s temple, causing Athena to punish Medusa […]

Almost is Never Enough

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

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This book had all the ingredients to be very interesting, and it almost got there: almost. Unfortunately, after sludging through a pretty slow first-half which didn’t engage me very much, it drew me back in with some interesting twists, only to then fizzle out again. The whole thing just left me feeling cold, a large part of which I think had to do with how impenetrable I found the protagonist, Nella: I felt like she was being kept at an arms length and just couldn’t […]

This book reads like a waltz.

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The best way to describe this book is by liking it to a waltz. It moves along at a slow and steady pace, being careful not to get to excited, or include many turns or twists, is quite beautiful but not as exciting or fulfilling as a more interesting dance would be. The concept of this story is around a lady who marries for convenience – ie she is of marrying age and wealth is dwindling so she needs to be married ASAP. (This book […]

Too Much and Too Little: The Muse

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  So here’s another book that has two story lines separated by about 30 years in time. The narrator of the story is Odelle who has come from Trinidad to London to pursue her desire to be a writer. It is 1967. As the book opens she is working in a shoe store when she gets a job at the Skelton Institute of Art. Her new boss is Marjorie Quick (a Bondian sort of name, no?) is enigmatic, wealthy a nd upper class.  She takes […]

The Dutch Used to be Uptight

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Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist hits many of the marks of books that immediately draw my attention: It’s centered in a long-ago time period (17th century) and a far away place (Amsterdam), has an intriguing and lovely cover, a protagonist coming of age, and a potential magical bent. I also had several friends rate it highly on Goodreads, so I definitely had high expectations. It’s perhaps for that reason that I think this fell flat for me. I didn’t dislike The Miniaturist, but I didn’t love it […]

Hold yourself in the palm of your hand

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I don’t know how to write this review. Partly this is a physical problem.  I have an injured dog wearing a cone trying to get as close to me as possible, forcing me to twist toward the keyboard which will result in muscle rebellion later.  (He scratched his eye and will be fine, but is so very pitiful right now.) But more than that, this book is hard to describe because of how different and solitary it is.  I keep pausing to find my adjectives […]



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