Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Chris

CBR11 participant
CBR18 Participant

Hi, it's me. Really, I hate these bio things. I like to read.

Chris's Reviews:

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In Extremis by Lindsey Hilsum

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Hilsum’s biography of Marie Colvin, the reporter who was killed in 2012, is a well written, rose colored glasses off type of biography. Drawing on interviews as well as Colvin’s diary entries, Hilsum presents a complicated portrait of a woman. It is refreshing to read a book about a woman who seems so on point and is just as problematic as the rest of us.  When you read or listened to Colvin, you always had the impression that she was on top of everything.  It […]

Good Start to a New Series

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

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Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of THE LONG CALL by Ann Cleeves from Macmillan in an exchange for an honest review. The first book I read by Cleeves was the fifth book in her Shetland series, which is not the way to start that series. But eventually because people I knew loved Vera, I started to watch it, and then watched Shetland. So, when an opportunity came to get in on a new series, I grabbed it. Matthew Venn is not your normal brooding […]

Why Teachers Drink

Best in Class by Tim Clancy

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Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book via a Librarything giveaway. If you teach, it is that time of the year. The time when questions such as, “I know I didn’t do any of the work, but can I still pass the class” get asked. It is the time when you read essays that are done at the last minute so students write things like “I think that it is the title of the movie” or “two other sources that I didn’t right done”. […]

Visit the Morrin Centre in QC – I did!

Iron Bar and Bookshelves by Louisa Blair

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If you go to Quebec City, take the time to go to the Morrin Centre. It was a prison, a school, and then a library. I highly recommend the tour                                                           . This gem of a book presents the history of the place. It is split into three sections, not counting the introduction by Louise Penny, and […]

It is not about a whale that eats a wolf (spoilers)

The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky

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The Wolf in the Whale is a fantasy. It is a what if fantasy. It is a mixing of Inuit belief with Norse mythology. It is about the clash of cultures. The story is told by Omat, a young Inuit who first tells of his life with his family, a family who needs more people, and then what happens when more Inuit show up, and then what happens when funny looking pale people show up. The thing is that, if we are being honest, this […]

Once there was a tree

Big Lonely Doug by Harley Rustad

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Big Lonely Doug is a big lonely tree on Vancouver Island. It is a Douglas Fir and has become a symbol of the need for forest preservation. The book is slightly, only slightly mistitled. While Doug is the focal point, the actual text covers quite about forests, trees, conservation, and logging in Canada. It is worth noting that the sections that deal with logging are relatively even handed. True, it is impossible to less the impact of Doug standing alone in the midst of a […]



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