Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About ElCicco

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Married, mom of two, history PhD, feminist. I've been participating in Cannonball Read since CBR4. I love to read, and writing reviews keeps me from reading without thinking. I feel like I owe it to the authors who entertain me to savor their creations. It's like slowing down and enjoying a delicious meal instead of bolting your food. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: ElCicco's Quick Questions interview.)

ElCicco's Reviews:

The Romance/Murder Mystery/Thriller/Ghost Story You’ve Been Looking For!

August 8, 2017 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

The Ghost Bride is a great summer read which I thoroughly enjoyed and raced through in no time. I picked it up based on a list of recommended fantasy reads that are one-off’s and not part of a multi-volume series. This novel was so good, I now wish it was part of a series (and it seems to me, based on the ending, that it could become one). I came for the fantasy/ghost aspect and its historical overtones, but the romance part of it was […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Romance Tagged With: cbr9, ElCicco, fantasy, Fiction, ReadWomen, romance, the ghost bride, Yangsze Choo

ElCicco's CBR9 Review No:34 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Romance · Tags: cbr9, ElCicco, fantasy, Fiction, ReadWomen, romance, the ghost bride, Yangsze Choo ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Constant Craving

August 4, 2017 by ElCicco 1 Comment

This novel was translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes and was the winner of an English Pen Translates award This is Women In Translation month #WIT Umami is a novel about loss, grief and craving told from 5 narrative points of view over 5 years. From the beginning we know certain facts: Ana is planting a milpa or garden instead of going to camp; it is the third anniversary of the drowning death of her little sister Luz; Pina’s mother, who had been absent for […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: cbr9, ElCicco, Fiction, Laia Jufresa, mexico, ReadWomen, Sophie Hughes, Umami, Women In Translation

ElCicco's CBR9 Review No:33 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: cbr9, ElCicco, Fiction, Laia Jufresa, mexico, ReadWomen, Sophie Hughes, Umami, Women In Translation ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Indonesian best-seller about poverty, education and hope

July 29, 2017 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

The Rainbow Troops: A Novel is not so much a novel as a memoir or collection of vignettes from the author’s childhood in Indonesia. It is an eye-opener about life in the world’s fourth most populated country, the largest Muslim-majority country. Hirata is Indonesia’s best selling writer of all time (according to the book blurb) and The Rainbow Troops was a huge best-seller in Indonesia and abroad. Hirata provides a vivid depiction of the poverty that many Indonesians experience and of the hope that education […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Fiction Tagged With: #memoir, Andrea Hirata, cbr9, ElCicco, Fiction, Indonesia, The Rainbow Troops

ElCicco's CBR9 Review No:32 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Fiction · Tags: #memoir, Andrea Hirata, cbr9, ElCicco, Fiction, Indonesia, The Rainbow Troops ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

The Persistence of Memory

July 18, 2017 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Salt Houses is Hala Alyan’s first novel, but not her first book. She is a published poet with a doctorate in psychology, and in Salt Houses, she demonstrates both her beautiful way with words and her remarkable ability to delve into the psyches of the members of one family. Each character in this book has his/her own unique voice and way of seeing the world. And that world changes from generation to generation, quite literally, as they are forced to move from one city and […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: cbr9, ElCicco, Fiction, Hala Alyan, Middle East, ReadWomen, Salt Houses

ElCicco's CBR9 Review No:31 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: cbr9, ElCicco, Fiction, Hala Alyan, Middle East, ReadWomen, Salt Houses ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Meta Mystery!

July 11, 2017 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Here’s your 2017 beach read. It’s a murder mystery set within a murder mystery, a meta-mystery, if you will, that peers with a gimlet eye at both the process of writing and the publishing industry. This book is great fun to read and stocked full of characters who draw you in and/or repulse you. Both mysteries will keep the reader firmly planted in his/her seat until all whodunnits have been revealed in a most satisfactory way. The novel opens with Susan Ryeland just home from […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: Anthony Horowitz, cbr9, ElCicco, Fiction, mystery, The Magpie Murders

ElCicco's CBR9 Review No:30 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: Anthony Horowitz, cbr9, ElCicco, Fiction, mystery, The Magpie Murders ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

To live for or to die for? That is the question.

July 6, 2017 by ElCicco 2 Comments

The Weight of Ink is a fascinating work of historical fiction set in London of the 17th century and 2000-2001. It is brimming with compelling characters and interwoven plots related to scholarship, feminism, academia, anti-semitism, love, guilt and atonement. Throughout the novel, across time, the question that torments our main characters has to do with how one lives one’s life and supports one’s beliefs: is it better to die for what you believe or to live at all costs? And what do you do if […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: cbr9, ElCicco, Fiction, historical fiction, Rachel Kadish, ReadWomen, The Weight of Ink

ElCicco's CBR9 Review No:29 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: cbr9, ElCicco, Fiction, historical fiction, Rachel Kadish, ReadWomen, The Weight of Ink ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments
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