narrative non-fiction – Cannonball Read 17

“We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.”

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

July 3, 2022 by faintingviolet 2 Comments

This is my first in depth experience with Didion’s writing (although likely not my last as I have Year of Magical Thinking already on this year’s to read list). Slouching Towards Bethlehem as a title caught my imagination years ago and has stayed with me (I was unaware it was a further literary illusion, missing the Yeats connection). This is Didion’s definitive portrait America, but most specifically California, in the 1960s. I read plenty of books published outside of my own lifetime, but reading Slouching […]

What makes a writer?

Just Write: Here’s How! by Walter Dean Myers

July 15, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

#cbr11bingo #birthday Myers birthday was August 12, 1937. Just Write: Here’s How! is a non-fiction practical guide with easy tips, accessible language and perfect examples for the teen who wants to learn how to write. In fact, this book maps out these tips so well, adults could benefit from them. Just Write could easily be adapted for classroom use or used by the individual writer. However, I read the ARC from 2012 and wondering if any updates have been done between then and his death or […]

A little slice of Savannah.

March 28, 2015 by narfna 5 Comments

I’d been looking forward to reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for quite some time. Ever since I read Capote’s In Cold Blood, I’ve been really interested in well-written true crime books, particularly ones written in the form of a non-fiction novel, a form that Capote pioneered. What I ended up getting was one but not really the other. This book isn’t really true-crime, although it has elements of that genre, and there is a murder at the heart of the narrative. But that’s not what […]

This is what happens when a comedian writes a true crime book.

January 15, 2015 by narfna 8 Comments

Man, it’s been a really long time since I’ve had a book hangover, I forgot what it was like. I also forgot that you can usually tell when it’s about to happen. Towards the end of the book–which you have finished at all costs, ignoring sleep and food–you start to feel a little funny, like the boundaries between real life and book life have disappeared. And then afterwards, you’re just done. With books, with stories, with bathing. After I finished it, I ended up starting […]

Devastating, but entirely necessary.

June 10, 2014 by narfna Leave a Comment

Initially, I only gave this four stars because it was just such a difficult reading experience. And I don’t mean difficult as in skill level. I mean it in terms of emotional effort. I usually reserve my five star rating for those books that end with me fist-pumping in the air and running screeching around the room while my pores ooze out excitement and love, and this is not the sort of book that inspires that kind of reaction. I think this says a lot about […]

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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