Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

*record scratch* you’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation

False Value by Ben Aaronovitch

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well, not me per say- but DC Peter Grant. There was a good deal of magic AND non-magic kerfuffle at the end of Lies Sleeping. Peter, Lesley, Chorley, and the Nightingale himself were all thrown into the process of red tape and blue lines. I read Lies Sleeping back in September of last year, and then stopped dead in the ROL-iverse except for a short story here or there. False Value was available, but no way in hell was I about to mess up my matching set […]

wikipedia with a wink

Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day by Peter Ackroyd

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Peter Ackroyd loves London. He has written novels, histories, poetry, and biographies of the people, places, and things that make (or have made) London, well, London. He approaches history with curiosity, wonder, and with an almost obsessive eye for detail. He criticizes when criticism is needed, and he allows facts and stories to breath and speak on their own without editorializing. Queer City, his history of gay life in London from the original founders through the current citizens, reaches far back into the history of […]

Tales from the Bottom of a Winter Coat Pocket

Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch

The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch

The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch

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Sometimes you find a bunch of cough drop wrappers when you dig into pockets of coats put away for the season, and sometimes you find a twenty dollar bill. Imagine my delight when Tales from the Folly popped up on Scribd! I devoured the series earlier this year -aside from the latest; I am waiting for the paperback release- and when I saw kittenkong42’s review back in October I was PSYCHED to know that the short stories had all been collected into one place! There […]

Nazis? I Hate Those Guys

The Book of Lamps & Banners by Elizabeth Hand

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I used to binge watch the tv show 24 with friends from college. In the beginning of the season 1 episodes, Jack Bauer would mournfully reflect on his circumstances and say, “I’m Jack Bauer, and this is the longest day of my life.” To which one of my friends joked: “What about season 3? Is that the third longest day of his life?” Generation Loss was published in 2007, which feels like an alternate timeline to what we’ve been through these last thirteen years. Yet Elizabeth Hand has […]

London Calling

Hard Light by Elizabeth Hand

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With a new Cass Neary novel out, I realized that I put book three off for so long. That was a mistake. I’ve never enjoyed a misanthropic character more and I think in large part that’s because Elizabeth Hand is such a fantastic writer. She doesn’t make Neary more than it is, she’s an anti-hero plain and simple. But she knows how to write a hell of an atmospheric tale, with touches and nods to photography and the punk scene. I know little about either […]

A delightful British rom-com (Bingo #6)

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

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4.5 stars #CBR12 Bingo: Reader’s Choice (replaces How-To) Official book description: Wanted: One (fake) boyfriend Practically perfect in every way Luc O’Donnell is tangentially–and reluctantly–famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he’s never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad’s making a comeback, Luc’s back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything. To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship…and […]



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