Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Settle in for a cozy read with a Tim Horton’s coffee and a cruller.

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

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Yes, this was yet another Jane Austen retelling. I was all about those this year. Supposedly, it was based on Pride & Prejudice…and I guess I see that, but it wasn’t a strict retelling. It was more of an homage. From Amazon: AYESHA SHAMSI has a lot going on.  Her dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty […]

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” (CBR11 Bingo)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Rosamund Pike (narrator)

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I have absolutely no idea how to review this book. Instead, I’ll tell you the story of my relationship with it. In my sophomore year of high school we read Austen for the first time. I clearly remember our teacher (looking back he was young, with long hair) stalking around the room selling us on an author only some of us had heard of, and attempting to inspire in us the mental fortitude it takes a 15 or 16 year old to really battle with […]

Austen meets Downton

Longbourn by Jo Baker

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CBR11 Bingo – Remix   When tackling the Remix bingo square, it was OBVIOUSLY going to be some sort of Pride & Prejudice variation, with the actual challenge being which one to pick. Then I read LanierHgts’ review of Longbourn, and it immediately got bumped to the top of my list. Unlike other remixes that tend to modernize the story, or speculate what happened next, this book takes place during the events of the original Pride & Prejudice, but is told from the point of […]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that giraffes aren’t all that sexy.

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

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I was excited to read this, as it is a well documented fact that I am a total sucker for any and all Austen retellings. I recently enjoyed Unmarriageable, and was hoping to ride the wave of fun Austen stories here. I began to read, hoping for a fun, gender-swapped modern version of one of my favorite stories. AND THEN I REMEMBERED THE BOLLYWOOD BRIDE. (Oh my. I really despised that book. Remember that #cannonbookclub? Yikes.) Ugh. The good news is that this story is […]

“In my humble opinion, pride is a fairly common sin, because everyone thinks very highly of themselves.”

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal

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As anyone who has been part of the Cannonball Read for a while knows, I simply do not have the power to resist a Jane Austen retelling. Even if I’ve heard terrible things about it, I’m probably still going to read it. Unofficial sequels, modernizations, books told from alternate points of view? I am ALL IN. I recently saw an article talking about how Jane Austen is all the rage right now with Southeast Asian writers and readers, and how there were a slew of […]

Every Pride and Prejudice retelling is an excuse to post Firth gifs

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal

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Two Pride and Prejudice retellings in a row that I’ve enjoyed! It’s a February miracle. I actually liked this one a bit better than Pride, but they’re both good and worth reading. The draw of Unmarriageable isn’t in the way the plot points are reinterpreted because all in all, it sticks pretty closely to the original story. The draw is in the early 2000’s Pakistani setting which is similar enough to the original English setting for the plot points to make sense and different enough […]



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