Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Why were we taught to fear witches, and not the men who burned them?”

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais

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Bingo 12: Dwelling There’s a probably slightly magically sentient house in this novel, both in the title The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, and in the background as a character, but mostly as a big part of the setting. The magic manor is only one of many many tropes in this novel, to the point where I’m not sure whether this whole novel is full of clichés or it’s actually mildly ironically self-aware. There’s a sisterhood of witches with the leader type (Queenie), the sexy one […]

A book I asked, “Why that was there?” (A lot.) But learned as I read.

When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey

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When I first looked at When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey, I immediately put it down again. I was not in the mood for witches, teen girl drama or magic. But when I found it sometime later, I thought, oh why not? Not like I had to finish. Yet, I would go onto finish, even with misgivings. There is a slow beginning to this teen novel. In fact, the whole pace of the story can be slow with a rushed and mostly incomplete, unsatisfying […]

I really wanted to like this one; I really, really tried.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow

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It’s 1893, and the witchways are gone from the world. There is no more big magic: no more calling of storms, no curing of plagues, no blessings on fields and pastures. But a little magic still exits. Women still charm the wrinkles out of shits, bewitch bread from burning in the oven, or enchant a needle to be threaded on the first attempt.  Though she has been living with just her abusive father for the last several years, Juniper Eastwood, a wild and ferocious independent […]

the Sanderson sisters are still my favorite witchy siblings, but the Owens family are not messing around!

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

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Lookout y’all, it’s re-read time! Alice Hoffman used to be a favorite author of mine; we slowly went our separate ways after The Museum of Extraordinary Things. There was no big breakup; we just grew apart. We wanted different things. The separation was so slow and gentle that I forgot that she was an author that I really liked, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a new prequal to Practical Magic hitting the shelves, oh wait, there already was a prequal? This […]

“Still, I wanted to believe; indeed I longed to; and, in the end, how much of belief comes from longing?”

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

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I worked three jobs in the summer of 2005. I frequently worked more than one during any given day. Days off did not exist- except, miraculously, for the 4th of July. The history of the 4th holds no meaning here, just that I finally had a day to myself. I spent my one day off in bed, reading The Handmaid’s Tale from cover to cover. I did not leave the room. I turned down, much to the chagrin of the person whose bed it was, all opportunities […]



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