Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Braveheart

Death of a Gossip by M.C. Beaton

February's Son by Alan Parks

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By coincidence, I just finished two different mysteries set in Scotland. Both were okay, both should have been better, both merit three stars, and I have more to say about one than the other…   Death of a Gossip It’s fine for what it is: a Scottish cozy mystery Agatha Christie rip off. But it spends way too much time on the boring, awful side characters and not nearly enough time on the wonderfully cantankerous Hamish MacBeth.   February’s Son Cn. Abuse, horrible depictions of […]

Two Scottish bozos in a camper van.

Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other by Sam Heughan & Graham McTavish

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I have not seen the STARZ TV show this book is the account of making, but this book (and the audiobook specifically) was a pretty good time. (STARZ insisted on naming the TV show Men in Kilts, but its original name was Clanlands, as this book makes pretty clear without actually stating it.) If you want something extremely goofy, spotted through with Scottish history, this is your book. The book is told by both Graham and Sam in alternating POV sections as they narrate the […]

Reading Days

In the Cut by Susanna Moore

The Papers of Tony Veitch by William McIlvanney

Angel's Tip by Alafair Burke

The Devil in Her Way by Bill Loehfelm

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In sleep debt and haven’t had time to write reviews like I’ve wanted to the last few weeks so here are a few things I’ve read lately… In the Cut **** It’s tough to talk about this one. The writing is superb, bordering brilliant. The scenes are rich. The ending…good but not good? I don’t know. I liked it a lot but I can’t really say why except to say it’s well-written and thrilling. Erotic in a messy way. It addresses the way physical attraction […]

rain, rain, go away

Summerwater by Sarah Moss

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Is there anyone who isn’t at least slightly maddened by days and days on rain? I’ve spent many summers working outdoors under mostly temporary cover. It’s been years, but I vividly remember the feeling of perpetually wet socks and bones that felt internally chilled. In the summer of 2008, when I was working as an adventure guide at a camp in the White Mountains, it rained 29 days in June and 30 days in July. We ran out of “rainy day” activities less than a […]

In which I begin to question my choices

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

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Series: Outlander. I read book 1 in 2015. What I remember about this series prior to reading this book: Not much. A married nurse in Scotland accidentally goes back in time and falls in love with a big, hairy Scotsman from several centuries ago. There’s a lot of disturbing sexual violence and the first book was ridiculously long. Why I stopped reading the series: See above re: sexual violence and book length. The plot: Claire (the nurse from Book 1) is back in her own […]

Unaccompanied Minors, side of Nazis

The Adventurous Four by Enid Blyton

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Set in an unnamed fishing village off the north east coast of Scotland, Blyton’s book follows three siblings, Tom and his younger twin sisters Jill and Mary, who are on late summer holidays with their parents.  Their older friend, Andy, is the son of a local fisherman, and the four of them are planning a day trip with Andy’s father’s boat, lent with permission.  On their day outing, a storm sweeps the boat off course, and the four children are shipwrecked on a small island […]



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