Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Some

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop

Hiroshima by John Hersey

Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe

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The Penelopiad – 4/5 This short book was written as part of a mythology fiction project in the early 00s where contemporary writers took on classic myths. Karen Armstrong wrote an overall history of mytholy, David Grossman wrote about Samson and Delilah, AS Byatt wrote about Ragnorok. As she did with the Shakespeare project when she wrote Hag-Seed based in The Tempest, she knocked the ball out of the park with this one. I think this is in part because she already has written numerous […]

The Opposite is Always Present

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

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CBR Bingo: Shadow All things had opposites close by, every decision a reason against it, every animal an animal that destroys it, the male the female, the positive the negative. The splitting of the atom was the only true destruction, the breaking of the universal law of oneness. Nothing could be without its opposite that was bound up with it. Strangers on a Train is not the first time I’ve read Patricia Highsmith. I’ve read her short stories (still scarred by “The Terrapin,” thanks), one […]

AKA Carol

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

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Aspiring set designer Therese Belivet is working in the toy section at a New York department store until her boyfriend’s friend comes through with the theater job he’s promised he can get her. She finds waiting on the pushy, demanding mothers unfulfilling and doesn’t seem to fit in with the other ladies who work at the store.  Then right before Christmas a woman comes in to buy her daughter a doll and for reasons she doesn’t fully understand Therese is captivated. Before she can change […]

“You’re like somebody waiting very patiently and one day – you’ll do something.”

Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith

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In a small town in New England during the 1950s, Melinda and Victor Van Allen’s marriage has become increasingly strained due to Melinda’s infidelities that she aggressively flaunts in front of all their friends and neighbours. Although Victor does appear to be indifferent to it on the surface, he is not as stoic as he pretends to be and starts a rumour that he has killed one of her former lovers. It’s quite fascinating how Highsmith presents the characters in this book. Vic is the […]

Strangers On A Train-Stranger and Strangerer

Strangers On A Train by Patricia Highsmith

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Every once in a while I get a yen to read the source novel for one of my favorite classic movies. My most recent read (actually listen) is Strangers On A Train, by Patricia Highsmith. I have seen the classic Alfred Hitchcock film, featuring Robert Walker and Farley Granger, many times. There are some indelible, memorable scenes in that movie – the two men crossing legs and crossing lives on the train, the gold lighter which incriminates and absolves, the final deadly and hair-raising sequence […]

Imagine learning to talk from recordings rather than people.

Because Internet by Gretchin McCulloch

To Marry Medusa by Theodore Sturgeon

Come Closer by Sara Gran

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey by James Lecesne

Coming Out Party by Nikki Levy

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

An Act of God by David Javerbaum

Unexpected Stories by Octavia Butler

Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith

Henrietta and Eleanor by Libby Spurrier

Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

Hate that Cat by Sharon Creech

Break Shot by James Taylor

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Because Internet: 4/5 Stars A book whose title and public relations/previews made me really not want to read, this ended up being a) much different from what I thought it was going to be and b) a lot better as well. This is not an amateur at language in a way that may very well be accurate enough, but would also be facile or shallow. Instead, Gretchen McCulloch writes an interesting analysis of language for amateurs, but using the tools of her work as a […]



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