Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Read this and you’ve picked a winner

The Lottery: Graphic Novel by Shirley Jackson

by Leave a Comment

#cbr11bingo #BacktoSchool There might be a few spoilers if you are not familiar with Shirley Jackson’s work, The Lottery. I have read Shirley Jackson’s book, The Lottery, at least once. Probably more as she is a Vermont author that is known for being from a town south of me; therefore, teachers feel the need to introduce her into the curriculum at some point. I always got the basic elements of the story: there is a lottery in a small town. For what, you are not […]

I’m Just Kind of Apathetic About This One

by Leave a Comment

Hmmm. I think I ruined my own experience of this one through my own past knowledge of it: I’m pretty sure I haven’t read it in the past, and yet, I was already aware of all the plot points once it started rolling. Beyond that, I suppose, there are the characters, but even they were totally disaffecting to me. There is a finely-crafted and unsettling mood around everything which works incredibly well in this story and it’s unfolding, but I felt like I knew exactly […]

Madness, Illness, Grief, and The Haunting of Hill House

by 2 Comments

Beware of mild spoilers … I recently finished watching The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. But it is still with me. It was at times an uncomfortable watch, but it also may be one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time. It can’t really be called an adaptation of the immortal Shirley Jackson novel. That classic book could be considered more of a jumping-off point for this, an original, deeply-felt horror story. The original novel, first published in 1959, concerns a […]

New England Gothic done right

by Leave a Comment

I seem to be on a roll the past few years with my first read of the year being top notch. This year, I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson. It had cropped up a few times in my periphery, on book blogs and the like, and my interest was piqued. My goal for this year is to read more from my library instead of spending a fortune on books (finishing the PhD and only working part time means I’m poor […]

End in Sight

by Leave a Comment

Burden of Proof – 3/5 Stars So this is a second of the “Kindle County” series books that Turow has been publishing over the course of the last 30 years. I reviewed the first one a few months back. This a “legal thriller” and starts with Sandy Stern (of Argentine Jewish descent, which comes up, repeatedly) finding his wife dead in the garage of a possible suicide. There is a note but few clues as to what might have happened. Over the course of the […]

“My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. “

by Leave a Comment

“Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea? Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me. Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep? Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!” This was an excellently creepy, dripping with atmosphere, delight of a book. It hard to properly give this novel its due without spoiling the whole thing so you’ll just have to trust me, and the countless reviewers before me, that this is worth seeking out. The Blackwood family consists of: Mary […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo