Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Holiday Reads, a.k.a. I get more reading done in a tent

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Other People's Houses (DC Ffion Morgan #3) by Clare Mackintosh

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Whiteout by R.S. Burnett

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I don’t know why, but I do.  Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton) *** I’ve always loved the movie, so I wanted to read the book too. I was struck by how different it was both in plot and in tone; some characters that make it out in the film don’t survive the book and vice versa, and some of the characters have been conflated or split up. Lex and Tim, as characters, are incredibly irritating and flat in the book (Lex’ entire personality is ‘annoying child’. […]

It was the worst of times

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

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Fingersmith is award winning historical fiction set in 1862 London and at a country manor known as Briar. Like a Dickens novel, it features thieves, asylums, poor, rich and table turning, but this work also focuses on women, sex, matters of power/agency and the lack thereof.  The story is told in three parts: two from point of view of Sue Trinder, a 17-year-old orphan and fingersmith (thief), and one from point of view of 17-year-old Maud Lilly, who is an orphan and an heiress. Both […]

Atmospheric, dark, and lovely

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

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[Read as an ebook from the local library] Books like this generally don’t hit my radar. I do love well executed historical fiction, but as you might know from reading my review of The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep, I’m not a Dickens person. Victorian England is not my particular wheelhouse. But I do like Korean film, and The Handmaiden, Park Chan-wook’s sumptuous 2016 film, follows the initial plot of this book relatively closely, so I was curious to read the original. Because this is […]

The Ebb and Flow of a Young Queer Life in Historical London

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

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“Clad not exactly as a boy but, rather confusingly, as the boy I would have been, had I been more of a girl.” Another book snagged off of the Show Your Pride display at our local library this month: and can you go wrong with checking out a Sarah Waters novel? Even when they are not great, they are still worth a read for the twists and turns (the mileage of which may vary), but most importantly the striving to connect to the relationships around […]

Be Our Guest, Be Our Guest, Put Our Service to the Test…

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

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So I really enjoyed “The Little Stranger” and wanted to read more Sarah Waters books. I picked up “The Paying Guests” and found it hard to get into initially. Just like I did with “The Little Stranger.” However, Waters takes her time building up the story and you eventually get into the rhythm of the book. I really liked the main character, Frances Wray, and the setting of the story (1920s England) really works. Frances Wray and her mother end up having to take in […]

Bad blood carries. Bad blood comes out.

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CBR10Bingo: The Book Was Better? This was another square I struggled to fill, until a flash of inspiration hit me. I remembered that I had bought Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden on a whim several months ago but never actually watched it, giving me the perfect excuse to buy and read Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and then finally watch the film. Done and done.  Sue was born in a cramped house of thieves and orphaned when her mother was hanged for murder. Mrs. Sucksby has raised […]



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