Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Autumnal Reading

1979 by Val McDermid

The Survivors by Jane Harper

De Metsiers by Hugo Claus

Normal People by Sally Rooney

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After not having read much for a couple of weeks (work has been hell), I once again found myself in a place with terrible internet connectivity and a pile of books. Worse things have happened, particularly because the books I ended up selecting all turned out to be pretty dang good. 1979 (Val McDermid) **** Allie Burns is a woman in a man’s world. An Oxbridge graduate, she works as a journalist for a small Scottish newspaper. She hopes to make it big but so […]

There are no distractions from you. You’re every idea I’ve ever had.

The Roots that Clutch by TheCryingClub

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The Roots that Clutch ― TheCryingClub (A Normal People AU) I’ve taken a liking to Hozier’s music lately and I can trace the origin back to when I read this fic for the first time. I think what keeps pulling me back to it, and what resonated with me in Normal People, is the feeling of bittersweetness that lingers, mellowing from a sharp pain to a dull throb. It’s this gorgeous aching that pulls my mind back to this story again and again. The title […]

COVID and Traveling Gave Me Time to Read

Normal People by Sally Rooney

The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

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I had started reading Normal People quite some time ago but put it down for long enough that when I was ready to start reading it again, I decided to just start over, and I think that helped my enjoy the book more. The re-read of part of the book helped me understand the characters in a way that I hadn’t the first time I started reading it. At this point, probably most people know the plot. Marianne Sheridan and Connell Waldron grew up in the […]

Love Languages

Normal People by Sally Rooney

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Like many, I bought into what Sally Rooney was selling here hook, line, and sinker. It’s not just because she tells quite a story in a beautiful way. It’s because, like few writers I’ve read, she engages in the subtleties and nuances of human emotion. It’s hard writing any book but without question, there’s a higher degree of difficulty in telling the “how” of it. Romantic novels are familiar in structure: two lovers, frequently star-crossed, try to find peace amidst the many challenges. But to […]

oh Sally, I don’t know about this one

Beautiful World, Where are You by Sally Rooney

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At times transcendent, but at others cringe-worthy. In Beautiful World, Where Are You Sally Rooney crawls so far into her own butthole that she manages to shout out of her mouth “do not look at my talking butthole! You don’t know me!”- and once in a while she says something so beautiful that you wind up saying “thank you so much, butthole!”. Reading this book was a journey, to say the least. Originally, I picked it up on Pub Day and tore right in; I adored Normal […]

Oh just talk to each other, wont’ you?!

Normal People by Sally Rooney

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Connell and Marianne are classmates in high school. He is cool; she is not. He is popular; she is not. She comes from money, he does not. They both are bright. Despite their many differences, they are drawn to each other. And no matter what happens, they seem to always return to each other. Throughout Normal People, we get glimpses of their lives cycling through periods of coming together and drifting apart. This book was infuriating. Author Sally Rooney did a phenomenal job (maybe too […]



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