Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

…just remember me when….

Veronica Mars: Mr. Kiss And Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

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I don’t know how the revival series is going to go on Hulu but as far as this Veronica Mars fan is concerned, Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham could’ve kept pushing these books out and I would have been content. Much like the other one, this takes place immediately following the events of the movie and feels oh-so-much like an extended episode of Veronica Mars. There are fewer auxiliary characters than usual; this is mostly just Veronica and her dad, with Mac, Weevil and Logan on the […]

California Love

The Drowning Pool by Ross Macdonald

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I’ve developed a recent habit of revisiting old books; some favorites, others not. I wanted to see how they held up after all this time and if my notions of them were still true. Many list The Drowning Pool as one of Ross Macdonald (Kenneth Millar)’s greatest works. I am a Lew Archer diehard. I’ve said many times in this space that it’s my favorite detective mystery series of all-time. But I’m also lucky that I unintentionally began it later in the series, when Macdonald had already […]

“It would please him well enough to amount to no more in the end than a single great organ of detection, reaching into blankness for a clue.”

The Final Solution by Michael Chabon

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Not what I was expecting! Actually, I’m not sure I was expecting anything? This little novella is Chabon’s homage to Sherlock Holmes, though his “old man” is never actually named in the story. It’s 1944, and our old man who may or may not definitely be a retired Sherlock Holmes, is living in Sussex, keeping his bees, and coming to terms with old age and a world that has moved on. This part of the story worked extremely well for me. It was so poignant […]

Dreadful in name only

Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw

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Yay for new kinda favorite series! The thing for me that distinguishes a favorite from something enjoyable is how re-readable a book is. While I was waiting for the second book to get to my mailbox, I reread the first, and it was as much fun as the first time. After reading Dreadful Company (book 2), I started rereading it about a week later. Still fun. Dreadful Company features many of the same characters from the first novel including Dr. Greta Helsing, physician to things […]

Prequel to Beginning of Series Offered No New Insights

A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George

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Seriously you guys. I hard shrugged this book throughout. Why George decided to throw out a book that shows events that took place before the first book in the series baffles me. Also there’s just a look at Havers and that’s it. I cannot read a whole book following Lynley and St. James again. My head was done in. Also the casual way that everyone reacted when a character was almost raped just made my jaw drop. Also the plot line following who murdered several people and […]

This Was a Heck No Times Two

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

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Seriously…I see that some of you all liked/loved this one but I am baffled. This is up there with “The Catcher in the Rye” with most loathsome young adult character I have read in like decades. Flavia is dancing towards being a psychopath. I would have brained her for the crap she was doing to her two sisters. And all of them were just the most dysfunctional family ever. I can’t even tell you much about the murder. Someone was murdered. Flavia “investigated”. Bah. At […]



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