Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

[got me] to a nunnery!

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Heloise & Abelard: A New Biography by James Burge

The Tigress of Forlì: Renaissance Italy's Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de Medici by Elizabeth Lev

Letters of a Portuguese Nun: Uncovering the Mystery Behind a 17th Century Forbidden Love by Myriam Cyr

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I thought I was going to need some time to recover from the exquisite The Everlasting, but really it flung me head-first into a literal rabbit-hole. A warren. An abbey. A nunnery, if you will. Also- The Atlantic just posted a list of books that were done dirty by pandemic releases, and OF COURE The Everlasting resides within those vaulted halls. I was immediately drawn to Caterina Riario Sforza de Medici after she was mentioned several times in The Everlasting. A distant relative of her spots her likeness in the […]

this is the sort of book that requires some quiet wallowing time post-finish

The Everlasting by Katy Simpson Smith

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I picked this one up because of the cover. I saw it featured at my local bookstore and put it in my basket without even reading the blurb on the back. Had I read the blurb, I would have KNOWN that it was meant for me none the less, but something about the neon pile of bodies reached into my brain and demanded to be brought home. Unfortunately, “brought home” was as far as the demand went. It sat in my literal TBR pile until […]

Infamy, infamy! They’ve all got it infamy!

Dangerous Days in the Roman Empire by Terry Deary

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Dangerous Days in the Roman Empire is the second of my Terry Deary haul and proved to be far more information packed than the one I read on Ancient Egypt, covering three centuries of Roman history from the rule of Augustus to Rome’s fall. While lip service is given to some aspects of plebeian life, such as a look at some of the jobs that a Roman citizen might have, it’s very much a look at its rulers instead in a whistlestop tour through the […]

Politics and Poison, Oh My!

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A big shout-out to Aviva for sending this book my way during book exchange! This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Francesca Giordano is a woman who needs a job after her father is brutally murdered in the street (don’t worry, you find this out in the first chapter), and she gets herself employed with the very prestigious, inherently corrupt Borgia family. Her employment soon has her on a wild ride through the world of Rome’s political and theological corruption as she follows Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia […]

What’s old is new again.

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I spent a large portion of my teenage life aspiring to be an artist, and I surrounded myself with art books. Hell, my screen name (which I’ve used since the mid-90s) comes from a French Neoclassical artist. For all that, however, I mostly only read the books for the pictures – not the text. So while I’ve memorized every line in some of Ingres’ sketches, or Michelangelo’s sculptures, I can give only quick outlines of Leonardo, or Michaelangelo, or Delacroix, or any number of other […]

Tumult in ancient Rome, you don’t say!

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A few years ago I read and loved Kate Quinn’s Mistress of Rome, but it had taken me some time to pick up this prequel.  I really enjoyed the central love story in Mistress, so the larger and more scattered cast left me feeling less invested in Daughters. Daughters of Rome takes place during the Year of Four Emperors, around 69 AD.  Our main characters are the “four Cornelias”; four young women from a very prominent patrician family.  Cornelia Prima is well- and happily married […]



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