Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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I laughed, I cried, I will re-read.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

January 7, 2021 by narfna 10 Comments

“They say that a person’s personality is the sum of their experiences. But that isn’t true, at least not entirely, because if our past was all that defined us, we’d never be able to put up with ourselves. We need to be allowed to convince ourselves that we’re more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too, all of our tomorrows.” This is my favorite of Backman’s books (that I’ve read) by quite a large margin. I would […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: anxious people, Fiction, Fredrik Backman, Mental Health, mystery, narfna, Swedish, Swedish fiction, translated

narfna's CBR13 Review No:2 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: anxious people, Fiction, Fredrik Backman, Mental Health, mystery, narfna, Swedish, Swedish fiction, translated ·
Rating:
· 10 Comments

The ones that I couldn’t finish (NOT my double Cannonball!)

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Trelegemeproblemet (The Three-Body Problem) by Liu Cixin

Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon

American Demon by Kim Harrison

December 31, 2020 by Malin 1 Comment

Dear readers, I’m not going to lie, I’m racing against the clock to get all of my reviews finished in time for the CBR12 deadline (12 noon EST – or 6 pm Oslo time). I also need to finish 25% of the final novel I’m reviewing, co-parent my autocratic, demanding, and rather clingy almost-three-year-old, plan and prep a three-course New Year’s meal, and possibly do some last-minute shopping. No pressure, right? So when fellow Cannonballer Pixifer posted a review with all of her DNF’s for the year, […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, History, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: #Science Fiction, Aliens, Beauty an the Beast, cbr12, China, demons, DNF, elves, faeries, fairy tale retelling, historical fantasy, Kim Harrison, liu cixin, magic, Malin, paranormal fantasy, pixies, remembrance of earth's past, sandhya menon, St. Rosetta's Academy, susanna clarke, the Hollows, translated, vampires, Victorian, werewolves, witches, wizards, Young Adult

Malin's CBR12 Review No:106 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, History, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: #Science Fiction, Aliens, Beauty an the Beast, cbr12, China, demons, DNF, elves, faeries, fairy tale retelling, historical fantasy, Kim Harrison, liu cixin, magic, Malin, paranormal fantasy, pixies, remembrance of earth's past, sandhya menon, St. Rosetta's Academy, susanna clarke, the Hollows, translated, vampires, Victorian, werewolves, witches, wizards, Young Adult ·
· 1 Comment

cbr12bingo – Fresh Start

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

August 17, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

I have a confession to make: I judged this book by its cover. I remember the frenzy of press around this book, the series, and the *mysterious* author. I also remember seeing the cover and being completely uninterested. It is, in my opinion, a dreadful cover. It looks like it was cobbled together to act as a prop. It looks like a poorly thought out passion project. I still think the cover is awful, but I am glad that I changed my mind around shunning […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Ann Goldstein, bildungsroman, cbr12bingo, coming-of-age, Elena Ferrante, Fresh Start, friendship, inter generational trauma, Italian language, italian literature, Naples, postwar Europe, postwar Italy, translated, youth

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:91 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Ann Goldstein, bildungsroman, cbr12bingo, coming-of-age, Elena Ferrante, Fresh Start, friendship, inter generational trauma, Italian language, italian literature, Naples, postwar Europe, postwar Italy, translated, youth ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

“He breathed in my face the coffee he’d just drunk, mingled with the odor of his gums.”

A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio

August 10, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

1970s Naples: a thirteen year old girl of privilege is suddenly removed from her seaside home and returned to a cramped and dirty apartment outside the city.  The key word here is “returned”; our heroine has been sent “home” to a place that she never knew. She spent her entire life living with her glamorous mother and policeman father, only to have that reality shattered in one afternoon when the man she knew as her father bundles her and all of her belongings into the […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Ann Goldstein, bildungsroman, coming-of-age, domestic violence, Donatella Di Pietrantonio, ebook, Education, europa edition, family, generational trauma, Italian language, Italy, L'Arminuta, Naples, Sisters, translated

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:88 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Ann Goldstein, bildungsroman, coming-of-age, domestic violence, Donatella Di Pietrantonio, ebook, Education, europa edition, family, generational trauma, Italian language, Italy, L'Arminuta, Naples, Sisters, translated ·
· 0 Comments

Toss a coin to your witcher. #CBRBingo – Adaptation

Sword of Destiny (The Witcher, #0.75) by Andrzej Sapkowski

July 9, 2020 by narfna Leave a Comment

I have really turned around on this series! I feel like I need to re-read the first book now before moving onto the series proper, because I only experienced it in a grudging manner, and didn’t appreciate it for its good qualities. I will also be honest in that it was entirely the Netflix show that did the turning. I enjoyed it so much that it crystallized for me retroactively what people were seeing in the books. This second book in the Witcher series is […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: #fantasy, adaptation, Andrzej Sapkowski, cbr12bingo, narfna, Polish, short stories, Sword of Destiny, the witcher, translated

narfna's CBR12 Review No:70 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: #fantasy, adaptation, Andrzej Sapkowski, cbr12bingo, narfna, Polish, short stories, Sword of Destiny, the witcher, translated ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

This whole book is one big WTF moment.

Confessions by Kanae Minato

December 30, 2019 by narfna Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Suspense Tagged With: Confessions, Japanese literature, Kanae Minato, narfna, psychological thriller, read harder challenge 2019, Stephen Snyder, thriller, translated

narfna's CBR11 Review No:160 · Genres: Suspense · Tags: Confessions, Japanese literature, Kanae Minato, narfna, psychological thriller, read harder challenge 2019, Stephen Snyder, thriller, translated ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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