Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Gratuitous Jason Isaacs

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson

Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson

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Big Sky Private investigator Jackson Brodie is on an assignment to spy on a cheating couple. He has taken his thirteen year old son along with him. The son is bored and, quietly, so is Jackson. One night, he meets a desperate-looking man, standing at the edge of a crumbling cliff. Though Jackson manages to get the man off the cliff, the chance encounter leads him to something far more sinister.  I love Kate Atkinson and I’ve read the entire Brodie series up to this […]

“If you are going to tell a lie, tell a good one”

Transcription by Kate Atkinson

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Juliet is in her early twenties when World War II starts, and like so many girls and women her age she finds herself working for MI5. This sounds more exciting than it is; mostly, Juliet types things. One day she is ordered to join a mission in a small flat in London, where an agent named Godfrey Tobey ingratiates himself with Nazi sympathisers.  I haven’t read the blurb at the back but I imagine it continues with something about Juliet not knowing what she’s getting […]

Life with (and without) Bunty

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

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A bleakly funny look at two generations of a British family, each shaped by the two world wars.  The reader bounces back and forth between the two, as one sees why the characters from the older generation act the way they do (i.e., the “behind the scenes” motivations).  But no matter which generation, it’s a hard-knock life to be sure, and disaster is always just around the corner.  Money is always tight, and rationing is for real.  And then we end up with the soul-draining […]

Jackson Brodie strikes again

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson

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I saved this book up for a recent hospital stay, knowing that if it was anything like the previous Jackson Brodie novels, it would keep the boredom entirely at bay. This is the fifth in Kate Atkinson’s series, which follows Jackson – an ex police and ex army officer, and now private detective – as he finds himself again embroiled in a series of unfortunate events, and navigates relationships with his exes, children and random strangers. As I re-read this, I realise that it sounds […]

“Art was dangerous, it gave you ideas.”

Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson

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Behold, the first of two short “ack wait I’m not at my goal” books I read in the past three weeks to try to get to my 52 books a year goal. Am I going to make it? No. But I’ve made peace with it. But onward to the book! I hadn’t read any Atkinson before but in my push to read more books as the year came to an end, a collection of short stories seemed like just the ticket. It’s the perfect medium […]

I Think It’s Me

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

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This review has been difficult to write because this book was good but I didn’t like it. I’m much better when I definitely love or definitely hate something! And this was just…frustrating for me. The story is set over about a week’s time in 1926 London, following a pair of girls who have runaway from York to become stars and inevitably get swallowed in the nightclub scene. And also the ex-field nurse turned librarian who goes to find them. And also the notorious nightclub owner. […]



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