Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“The economy’s in ruins, no one’s got a job, and we just don’t care, it’s bliss.”

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

by 1 Comment

It’s 1983. Thatcher is at No. 10 and Nick Guest, age 21, has just graduated from Oxford University. He finds himself as a lodger at the house of a college friend, Toby, whose father Gerald Fedden has been elected as a promising new conservative MP. Nick, who comes from a solidly middle class background, finds himself a loose thread intricately woven into the upper class social fabric of the Freddens. Nick has the wrong background and the wrong predilections, and he knows it doesn’t take […]

A banned novel about WWI, conscientious objectors and gays

Despised and Rejected by Rose Allatini

by 1 Comment

Despised and Rejected is a 1918 novel by Rose Allatini (using the pen name AT Fitzroy) that was banned and pulled off the market for being ‘morally unhealthy’ following a trial of its publisher CW Daniel. The Gay Men’s Press republished the novel in 1988 and the Persephone Press edition that I read came out in 2018. Set during WWI, the novel’s main characters are a bisexual woman named Antoinette and a gay man named Dennis who is also a conscientious objector. The novel begins […]

Weddings: a Bit of a Faff

Husband Material (London Calling #2) by Alexis Hall

by 4 Comments

In Husband Material (predictably the sequel to Boyfriend Material; number three in the series, Father Material, is still pending), Luc and Oliver are still a happy couple. They are thirty-ish, and anyone who is thirty-ish will remember that that is the age at which one seems to have a matrimonial or matrimonially-adjacent activity seemingly every week. There are four in this book. There is also a funeral. The sequence of events naturally leads Luc to the question whether or not he should propose to Oliver. […]

“Like eating very expensive chocolate, savouring every moment because you don’t know when you’ll have it again.”

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

by 4 Comments

Luc O’Donnell is the son of two rockstar parents: his mother is a French-Irish (but mostly French) folk singer, his father a legendary rock star who has been absent from Luc’s life since he was a toddler. Luc is, to put it mildly, a mess: when we meet him, he is trying and failing to make out with a guy who turns out to be a Buzzfeed reporter. After the terse encounter ends, Luc flees the club, faceplants outside on the kerb and is promptly […]

Welcome to the Land of Missed Opportunity

Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake

by Leave a Comment

Make the Season Bright – Because one of the main characters is called Brighton, get it?  Charlotte Donovan is a successful musician, living the dream in New York. She is a violinist in a string quartet, about to set off on a huge European tour. First, though, Charlotte must survive December, the month when her life usually comes off the rails. December is when Charlotte becomes extra accident-prone. Worse, it’s the month in which her fiancée Brighon left her at the altar. To help her […]

A Gay Romp

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

by 3 Comments

Alex is the son of the US president. He’s well-liked by his friends, intelligent and witty. His mother sends him and his sister on a diplomatic mission: attend the Royal Wedding of the crown prince of England. Unfortunately for Alex, he is forced to interact there with the prince’s younger brother Henry. Alex thinks Henry is a stuck-up sod and goes to confront him. Hijinks ensue, and the two end up faceplanting into a seventy five thousand pound or dollar (the novel is unclear about […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo