Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

This whole book is one big WTF moment.

Confessions by Kanae Minato

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If you would like to read something absolutely wild, go ahead and pick up this book. I knew it was going to be dark going in, and maybe it’s just because I don’t read all that many books that could truly be described as “dark,” but this was DARK. But also, it somehow managed to avoid being bleak? I think it was because it was so audacious. I just kept thinking the whole time I was reading it, WHAT. SHE DID WHAT NOW. (She being […]

“There’s so much pain everywhere, and we just close our eyes to it. The truth is we’re all scared. We’re terrified of each other.”

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

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I am simultaneously satisfied and disappointed. I feel like you really only get one thriller in your lifetime that really knocks your socks off your feet, leaving your mouth hanging open like sort of fish creature, only able to say, “WHAT? What just happened???” And I have more than used up my quota of those types of books. I think Gone Girl was my first. I think it was a lot of people’s. And since Gone Girl there have been so, so many psychological thrillers […]

“From a purely physical standpoint she didn’t have a chance, but her attitude was that death was better than capitulation.”

The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium, #2) by Stieg Larsson

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This whole re-read  review is chock full of spoilers. I want to talk more about Dragan Armansky’s idea that Lisbeth is the perfect victim. I touched on it in my 2012 review, but it has stayed with me. Everything in this book points to him being right. Lisbeth’s past, and current events involving the triple murders that Lisbeth is blamed and hunted for, they perfectly prime her to be someone who is easily blamed or taken advantage of. The first thing being she doesn’t trust […]

In which I non-review a favorite book.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) by Stieg Larsson

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Not quite sure what I want to say this go-round. I hate reviewing favorite books. There’s something about the headspace you get in when you’re reading one. It’s just so passive and full of unthinking pleasure. I just let books happen to me when I’m like that. And I don’t want to talk about it okay! It’s private. I loved this book back when I first read it, and then again when I re-read it a couple years later, and now I love it again […]

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Black Friday by David Goodis

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A few months ago, a journalist whose newsletter I follow posted about how much he loved David Goodis’ books. We had exchanged e-mails in the past; he turned me on to the fabulous Martin Beck series (bless him forever). Hearing him laud Goodis made me want to read more of the man’s work. When I saw a Black Lizard (bless them forever) copy for sale, I pounced. My favorite avenue to explore existentialism is not in the philosophical novels of graying old men but in […]

Thrills and Chills

The Woman In The Window by A.J. Finn

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In the year since it’s been out, The Woman in the Window has been more noted for the drama of its author than the success of the book itself, thanks in large part to Ian Parker’s excellent New Yorker piece on Dan Mallory, aka “AJ Finn.” Reading it made me never want to pick up the book despite the breathless hype surrounding it. While i occasionally indulge in the Gillian Flynn thriller, I prefer more of a noir with this type of book, so I assumed this was of […]



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