music – Page 12 – Cannonball Read 17

“When you get older, you may never have anyone sing to you personally again, but go all over the world and I bet you can’t find one baby that has never been sung to.”

The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry

February 12, 2023 by GentleRain Leave a Comment

Lynda Barry’s other near-perfect YA novel, The Good Times Are Killing Me, marks my completing re-reading her non comics work, as I read and reviewed Cruddy last year. I do think Cruddy is a singular work of genius, but this novel is a close second and one that I find deeply moving and beautiful. It’s a short book, only 131 pages, but Barry manages to pack a lot of emotion and layered, thoughtful commentary on growing up, friendship, systemic societal racism, and the power of […]

Two boys, one city, and their places in it

Moonwalking by Zetta Elliott and Lyn Miller-Lachmann

February 6, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Moonwalking is an interesting story about friendship in early 1980s America. The characters are both likable and relatable, and the (SPOILER) not so happy ending, is a nice change of pace from having it “all be okay” and working out in the best possible outcome. The tone mostly feels realistic (though I am not sure (SPOILER) if Pie sending his address to JJ would have happened). The supporting cast could have been explored a bit more, but what is needed to promote and support the […]

A violin to screech and music to our ears

When Rubin Plays by Gracey Zhang

January 11, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

CBR15Passport Books recommended by friends When Rubin Plays by Gracey Zhang is due in March 2023. I read it via a reader copy via Edelweiss but learned of it when the staff review email list came out (we get a list of what has been reviewed by staff for our web site). And my coworker in our sister store, Isabel had reviewed When Rubin Plays. I knew this would work for my “recommended by a friend” box (though it was indirectly recommended, and I have technically not meet […]

“Music is a calling that doesn’t call softly or politely. It screams insistently. The musician WILL find a way.”

From the Cradle to the Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars by Virginia Hanlon Grohl

January 10, 2023 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

I wanted to love From the Cradle to the Stage, but alas I did not. Back in December I stumbled across the television documentary series based on this book on Paramount + from 2021. The show featured author Virginia Hanlon Grohl and her son Dave visiting a musician and their mothers to investigate the experience of raising and parenting a professional musician. I thought the show was great and requested the book through my library’s interlibrary loan system before I finished watching all the episodes […]

The Duke and the Opera Diva

After Dark with the Duke by Julie Anne Long

January 8, 2023 by Malin Leave a Comment

Mariana Wylde arrives at the Grand Palace at the Thames only seconds after curfew, dripping wet and terrified, since she escaped her own lodgings because a literal angry mob blocked her residence. The talented opera singer, dubbed “the Harlot of Haywood Street” by the press after two rich, young noblemen fought a duel for her favour (something she very much didn’t want them to) and one of them nearly died. Her reputation is in tatters and she’s almost broke but begs the proprietresses of the […]

Everybody is sleeping on this one, and they shouldn’t be!!

The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings

December 23, 2022 by narfna Leave a Comment

This book was incredibly imaginative but also sometimes confusing, but overall a very good time. I was going to Review Amnesty this book but it hasn’t broken out like I hoped it would do, and I would like to see more people reading it, so I am going to say some stuff. This is an extremely imaginative adult fantasy book, despite three of the main characters being children, set in an alternate New Orleans that is just called Nola. In this Nola, magic is commonplace, […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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