Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Through the Looking Glass

Possession by A.S. Byatt

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Roland Mitchell is an unhappy man. Stuck in a job in academia in which he sees no future for himself, with a boss who seems to dislike him at every turn and a girlfriend who doesn’t appreciate him much either, he trundles along until he finds an unfinished letter in a book belonging to famed Victorian poet, Randolp Henry Ash. Along with fellow researcher Maud Bailey, Roland sets out to discover to whom Ash was writing.  I was warned beforehand that I would either adore […]

This was perfectly fine and I did not like it at all.

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

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I actually think what’s going on here is that I really do not like most possession/exorcism stories. Despite loving the friendship aspects of My Best Friend’s Exorcism*, I had a hard time getting through that book and I like it the least of all Grady Hendrix’s stuff, and now I think I know why. The possession story arc mimics dysfunction, and the breakdown of familial relationships (often) or friendships is highly unpleasant to me. I also don’t get anything out of it. Starting about thirty […]

The Shepherd King duology: power through the first book, it’s all worth it for the second

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

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One Dark Window: 3 stars Two Twisted Crowns: 4 stars Spoiler warning! Some minor spoilers for One Dark Window in this review. 20-year-old Elspeth Spindle (all the noble families have surnames taken from trees) lives in the kingdom of Blunder, most of which is now enveloped in a thick, sinister fog. Most people who venture out into the fog without a talisman (bones, feathers, animal feet, braided horsehair, etc) go mad and run off into the forest, never to be seen again. The only ones who seem […]

Horror Month 2023: #8 and #9

Reptile Memoirs by Silje Ulstein

Come Closer by Sara Gran

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I meant to review every book of Horror Month separately but I happened to consecutively read these two and they both feature women going through…transformations. So I figured it made sense to talk about them both on one page. Reptile Memoirs**** This is billed as a horror mystery but aside from a woman’s weird psychosomatic fascination with a snake, there’s not much in the way of horror, if that even qualifies as horror. That’s okay though; this is an interesting enough mystery tale with shifting […]

You don’t sail a thousand ships, you pulverize them

Possession by Adriana Anders

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I don’t know why I love marriage in trouble stories so much, but I do. Possession, a fake marriage in real trouble, is a nice twist on the trope. Possession is a book that I probably wouldn’t have read from a different author, but Anders takes all the elements that usually make me wary and deals with them very well. This is a kink heavy erotic romance with damaged man who is solely responsible for the marriage being in trouble. Really good kink is hard […]

Blackout. The Whale has eaten me. I repeat the Whale has eaten me and I am now dead. #CBRBINGO – White Whale

Possession by A.S. Byatt

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This review will not be long, for this book has defeated me, and in such a way that I don’t overly feel like enumerating what went wrong here. The short answer is most likely that I’m just not the right reader for this book (and this author, which is why I’ve deleted The Children’s Book from my TBR). I bought this ages ago, probably over a decade, and finally gave it a try about six years ago. I got 48 pages in before I said I’d […]



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