Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“from the housetops to the gutters – from the ocean to the shore -the warning signs have all been bright and garish -far too great in number to ignore”

A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet

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The children have a game: keep their parental status secret. If they keep it secret from each other, they can keep it secret from themselves. They won’t have to be the “children of” anyone. They don’t have to claim allegiance with the drunks in the Great House who let the world burn. Their game, and much of this book in general, brought to mind strong memories of “Old College Try” by The Mountain Goats. A Children’s Bible is more than what it seems. It’s presented […]

cbr12bingo – Fresh Start

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

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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 […]

Claudia and the Story of Boys Will be Boys

Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls by Ann M. Martin

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Boy oh boy am I behind in my reviews! Whatever could be distracting me? Pandemic perhaps?? I have it in my head that I shouldn’t be reading new books until I’ve reviewed the old ones which is causing some counter productivity but NO MAS. Gonna get these down and raise my head high. I’m not typically one for YA or youth books, but decided in this time of chaos to pick up a new hobby, specifically, read the Baby-sitters Club books on Facebook Live to […]

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 […]

Hurricanes Can Be Inside, Just as Much as Outside

Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby

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I always have a little trepidation reviewing a book written by someone I know in a professional capacity, so as much as I’ve been excited to read Hurricane Season since finding out it was being published last year, I was also really worried about giving it an honest review. But not only can I say that I enjoyed it, but it was so good it made me cry the good tears and I want to ship a copy to literally every person I know.  I’m […]

My heart beat hard and furious against my ribs like a fist wanting to hurt

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Amazon released this Kindle Single as a teaser for a forthcoming book from Joyce Carol Oates. I generally love Oates. She makes me uncomfortable in all the right ways, and reminds readers regularly that all manner of person can be a victim and all manner of person can be a predator. This is a fascinating and quick read, almost dream-like in some ways because it is first-person narrative in the head of a young man actively dissociating as a protective mechanism for seemingly numerous traumas. […]



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