Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About ardaigle

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I am a born and bred southerner and transplant to the Midwest. I read because I NEED to (as a former English major, it's in the DNA) and because I'm possibly ignoring frigid temperatures. Until summer, and then I'll just be reading outside. I also enjoy cooking, witty banter, and cheese. All the cheese. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: ardaigle's Quick Questions interview.)

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“The world is paralyzed, and humanity is in quarantine. It is a strange symmetry that I was born in one pandemic and will die during another.”

Violeta by Isabel Allende

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This was the library book club pick for the month and my first Isabel Allende novel. I looooved it, but it was a highly contested work at the book club (with many people rating it very poorly), but since this is MY review I’ll defend my position, and (somewhat begrudgingly) give insights into the critiques. This novel reminded Min Jin Lee’s “Pachinko” in its tone and ability to captivate me, and in introducing me to a geography/history that I don’t know a lot about (in […]

“Whether you’re in the curled-in-a-ball stage or you’re just wandering around feeling dissatissfied, resentful, afraid & unsure of yourself, the case is the same: too much listening to your fraidy cat over-analyzing, assumption-making judgmental puddleweed of a mind.”

Whose Mind Is It Anyway? (Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life) by Lisa and Franco Esile

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Due to a random turn of events, my husband came with me to the library to pick up a book I had on hold. I realized though that I in fact did NOT have a book on hold, the library had called me because I had a book overdue. (OOPS: confessions of a delinquent reader, who has a fine-free library). I obviously couldn’t leave empty-handed (I’m not a monster) so I perused the hot picks, the new fiction, but nothing was speaking to me. I […]

Food at once grounded me and took me to other places. It comforted me and challenged me. It was part of the fabric that made up my creative self and my domestic self. It allowed me to express my love for the people I love and make connections with new people I might come to love.”

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

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CBR Bingo – Edibles Very important disclaimer: this book will make you absolutely ravenous for pasta. One part memoir, one part cookbook, Tucci takes us back and forth through his life via his tastebuds growing up in an idyllic childhood as the child of Italian-Americans in Northern New York. I’ve always been charmed by Tucci, my favorite performance of his is as one-half of my chosen fictional parenting duo of all time, along with Patricia Clarkson in “Easy A.” He has such an affable presence […]

“Remember. There will be other days. And there will be other feelings.”

The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

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CBR Bingo – Europe In the wake of a surprising lay off I was looking for something to lift my spirits and came across this little tome, from the English author of “The Midnight Library.” That book was an examination of a squandered life as Nora has decided she has nothing left to live for. After taking the matter into her own hands, instead of finding herself faced with nothingness, she finds herself in the titular Midnight Library which is filled with volumes of books […]

“You want to know if I’m as evil as everyone says I am. The answer is no. And yes.”

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

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CBR Bingo – History I don’t read a lot of horror but I do enjoy it from time to time; however, I’m jumpy by nature so I’ve got to be careful with what I read lest I freak myself out and make it even easier for my teen to achieve a satisfying jump scare. I wanted something good and juicy for October so asked friends who are big scary book fiends and they DELIVERED. This is my first Sager but likely not my last as […]

“Humans. For the most part, you are dull and blundering. But occasionally, you can be remarkably bright creatures.”

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelvy Van Pelt

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CBR Bingo – Bodies, Bodies Have you ever read a book that included a POV of an intelligent, and even a bit condescending, octopus? Van Pelt grips your attention right out of the gate with that device as we jump POV from Marcellus (the octopus) to Tova (the widow) and see the beginnings of their unlikely friendship, despite the fact that they aren’t even the same species. Marcellus’ body itself is a character as you see him squeeze through an improbably small space out of […]



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