Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The second read is even better. Like, a lot better for a book I already enjoyed once.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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CBR16 BINGO: Part 1, for the first book in the Locked Tomb series I first read Gideon the Ninth several years ago and, while it took me a little while to get into it, I ended up really enjoying it, giving it 4 stars on Goodreads. I’ve been wanting to read Harrow the Ninth, and when it finally became available through my library, I decided to reread Gideon to refresh my memory and prep my brain. Thank goodness I decided to reread Gideon, because, first of […]

Lord of the Flies with Adults

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

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CBR16 BINGO: Fiasco, because this mission to capture Spanish treasure was a fiasco from the get-go I’ve been putting off writing this review because, while The Wager seems to have been well researched and the writing is engaging, it left me feeling a bit tepid. Nautical history isn’t my usual jam, but I do love a good survival story (see Endurance for my favorite nautical tale and one of my all-time favorite non-fiction books). In the mid-18th century, Britain and Spain were engaged in the […]

Two new Murderbot fans for the price of one!

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

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CBR16 BINGO: Dreams, because Murderbot dreams of being left alone to do its half-assed job in peace. During the spring CBR Book Club, I sheepishly admitted I hadn’t read any of the Murderbot series. I was encouraged to read at least two books before deciding whether to continue. I kind of disagree with that recommendation, though, and would counter that if you’re not at least amused by the opening line of All Systems Red, the series probably isn’t for you. “I could have become a […]

Who knew a book with “bleak” in the title could be so much fun? (with helpful charts!)

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

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Bleak House has been brooding on my TBR list for years because, even though I’m a long-time Dickens fan, I was intimidated by the length and by what I perceived would be a weighty novel. I’m ecstatic that I overcame my hesitance, because this novel was more fun than a mariachi band on a roller coaster. Sure, about 9 people die, but you can’t make gruel without smashing a few oats, right? There are so many characters that the death toll amounts to maybe 12%, and […]

The making of a wizard

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

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The thrill that comes from reading a classic of any particular genre is you get to see the early formation of that particular class of fiction. That can also be a problem, as the object of inspiration often leads to greater literary feats that can sometimes make the early attempts feel underwhelming. That’s sort of how I felt about the first three books in the Earthsea series, though I definitely got more engaged as I made my way through the trio. A Wizard of Earthsea […]

Flavia de Luce, a menace to murderers

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Brandley

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Poor Flavia. As if being banished to Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy in Canada at the end of The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches and then being banished back home again at the end of As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust weren’t bad enough, her return to Buckshaw is hardly the homecoming she imagined. She’s picked up at the dock with zero fanfare, her father is in the hospital with pneumonia, and her pet chicken, Esmerelda, is deceased. Things are hardly tickety-boo in Flavia’s world. Fortunately, […]



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