Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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About GentleRain

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Your jack of all trades eccentric. Knows a little about a lot and a lot about a little. Tends to mainly read non-fiction (history, true crime, old gossip, etc), SF/F, horror, graphic novels, "genre" books. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: GentleRain's Quick Questions interview.)

GentleRain's Reviews:

“The ultimate effect of unceasing propaganda has now been to cancel out the effect of all news alike.”

A Chill in the Air: An Italian War Diary, 1939-1940 by Iris Origo

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Another random bookstore find, as so many good books in my life are. It’s why I trawl through my favorite sections! A Chill in the Air: An Italian War Diary, 1939-1940 is what the title conveys. Iris Origo was an American born woman married to an Italian man (although she spent most of her life in Italy from childhood) and this is her diary of 1939-1940 as Italy slowly descends into war. Origo was a woman from a highly privileged background — her godfather was the […]

“There were three of them, three girls. They were standing side by side. They were standing at attention.”

Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

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This was a re-read and actually a re-buy because I bought this a couple of years ago and it’s stuck with me, so this second copy is going on the permanent bookshelf. Kate DiCamillo is such an amazing author, every book I’ve read by her is a hit with me. She has a delicacy of tone and a way with emotional gravity that I think children’s books really benefit from. Children need to have books that take them and their concerns seriously, that acknowledge the […]

Highly Entertaining Diaries Full of the Worst Opinions You’ll Ever Read

Henry "Chips" Channon: The Diaries 1918-38 by Henry Channon (edited by Simon Heffer)

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I’ve spent the last month or so working my way through this first volume of the diaries of Henry “Chips” Channon, and what a ride. My current opinion is that he’s the worst guy around but he is a great and entertaining writer who has never met a social ladder he did not want to climb, a royal he was unable to charm, and a cutting remark unsaid. He lived a really fascinating life where he knew every famous political and upper class English person […]

“I seem to have caught the eye of a real handful of a guy.”

Real-Time Fever by Taberu Kasumi

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Real-Time Fever follows Shizuka, a university student who livestreams as an anonymous cam model. He likes the attention of people seeing him and he has a crush on his favorite commenter, “Shiro.” One day he accidentally calls Shiro while he’s masturbating and saying his name, and it turns out that Shiro is actually a student at his school, Kurosaki. Kurosaki figures out that Shizuka is the anonymous cam model and blackmails him into doing a class group project together. If Shizuka wants his side work […]

“Even stuff like trash and dirt can sparkle brightly when light shines on it.”

Even When You Close Your Eyes, You Can See the Light by Maki Marukido

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Major spoilers follow throughout this review. I have mixed feelings about this one. I did enjoy it and thought it was an interesting story, but there are big parts of the work that make it probably impossible for me to recommend to the average person. Jin is an adult film star and a top who gets paired with Hikaru all the time for the gay porn company they work for, Cherry Bonbon. Cherry Bonbon makes gay porn aimed at women, and the part of the […]

“Why do I even go to school? What’s the point of all this?”

Red Threads by Ila Nguyen-Hayama

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Another random bookstore find that I really enjoyed. I always am hoping and checking for more YA graphic novels since fewer come out than those aimed at middlegrade readers, and this is aimed at around 14-15. Red Threads is about Hana, a high schooler from Tokyo who helps save a crow and then gets offered a scholarship at the Benten School of Esoterics, a fancy boarding school. On the train to the school, she meets another new student, Yoomi, a girl from Kansai whose family work […]



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