Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About esmemoria

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In my walking around life, I miss my old, blind pug (the Ancient Mariner), help amazing college students become teachers, and tie an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: esmemoria's Quick Questions interview.)

esmemoria's Reviews:

An Inside Look at the Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Diary by G.M. Gilbert

February 23, 2021 by esmemoria Leave a Comment

This review should more accurately be called an inside look at the defendants of the Nuremburg trials. Nuremburg Diary is a series of in-depth observations and conversations between author G.M. Gilbert and the Nazi defendants, presented in diary form. Before each diary entry, Gilbert sets the trial context. In brief italicized passages, he provides a synopsis of what the trial focused on that day, and follows the passages with detailed accounts of his conversations with the accused. This book was fascinating. The defendants reveal themselves […]

Filed Under: History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: G.M. Gilbert, World War 2

esmemoria's CBR13 Review No:9 · Genres: History, Non-Fiction · Tags: G.M. Gilbert, World War 2 ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Diamonds are a Reader’s Worst Friend

The Cutting Edge by Jeffrey Deaver

February 15, 2021 by esmemoria 3 Comments

I have read Jeffrey Deaver’s suspense novels on and off for 20 years. I remember in the beginning I loved his ability to raise tension and throw in plot twist after plot twist. Those glory days are over. Deaver’s The Cutting Edge is easily his most boring, flaccid, unsurprising book. The plot is a convoluted mix of international intrigue, diamonds, conspiracies, environmentalism, and of course, murder. The gore is fairly light, although there is a ludicrous scene where the villain forces a victim to swallow […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: crime thriller, Jeffrey Deaver, Suspense

esmemoria's CBR13 Review No:8 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: crime thriller, Jeffrey Deaver, Suspense ·
Rating:
· 3 Comments

The Monster of Grief

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

February 4, 2021 by esmemoria 8 Comments

It took me three-quarters of the way through A Monster Calls before I began to appreciate it. Throughout much of the book I was repelled by the protagonist’s unlikability, and his bottomless anger at everything and everyone in his life. But then my view changed. The main character is a boy named Conor. His mother is sick with cancer, he rarely sees his father who lives in another country, and his mother’s mother is cold to him. Conor is plagued by an unspeakable dream every […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Patrick Ness

esmemoria's CBR13 Review No:7 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Patrick Ness ·
Rating:
· 8 Comments

A Will, A Murder, My Apathy

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

February 1, 2021 by esmemoria 13 Comments

Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game is not a bad book. It has a lot of cliched mystery elements though: strangers brought together by a mysterious benefactor, a murder, a will reading, etc. It has the trappings of an Agatha Christie novel, but less skilled. In the beginning a group of people from all walks of life each receive a letter offering them a luxurious apartment for a modest price. The letter is signed by someone they don’t know, but the offer is so good none […]

Filed Under: Mystery Tagged With: Ellen Raskin

esmemoria's CBR13 Review No:6 · Genres: Mystery · Tags: Ellen Raskin ·
Rating:
· 13 Comments
Book cover

Motley and Mysteries

The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie

January 30, 2021 by esmemoria Leave a Comment

“The trouble is that we are not content just to see things—we will tack the wrong interpretation onto the things we see.” – The Mysterious Mr. Quin Another Cannonballer recently reviewed this book, and it prompted me to read it again. The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie is a bit of an anomaly in her oeuvre. Mr. Quin is a mysterious character with almost supernatural abilities to come and go. Mr. Satterthwaite, the book’s third person narrator and an inveterate scholar of the human […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: agatha christie

esmemoria's CBR13 Review No:5 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: agatha christie ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

The End is Never the End

The End by Lemony Snicket

January 26, 2021 by esmemoria Leave a Comment

The final, and 13th, book in A Series of Unfortunate Events is fittingly titled The End. It has taken me about a month to finish the entire series and I confess by this book some of the story’s tics had worn me down a bit. I was no longer entertained by the constant definitions of words and phrases for humorous effect. The Baudelaire orphans, I felt, had become predictable and even a little boring. I enjoyed the villain Count Olaf more than the main characters. […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket

esmemoria's CBR13 Review No:4 · Genres: Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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