Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About katie

CBR16 Participant

reading like it’s going out of fashion

katie's Reviews:

The dreaded cliffhanger!

The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani

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Oh, is there anything like the dawning horror – 50 or so pages from the end of your book – that it’s going to be darned hard for this plot to all wrap up neatly? And as you hope against hope, page by page, it becomes grimly clear…this is not a standalone book. Luckily I am most happy to forgive Intisar Khanani several times over, because I’m delighted that I’ll get to spend more time with the The Theft of Sunlight’s characters, as soon as […]

A harrowing story of shipwreck, death and survival on a godforsaken island at the edge of the world

Island of the Lost by Joan Druett

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Never has a description been more true. This is an absolutely incredible true story, and the author Joan Druett has some a marvellous job bringing it to life. This was a re-read for me, after first reading it several years ago. The story stayed with me, and I was glad I revisited it to refresh my memory. We follow the Grafton as it sets off from Sydney in 1864; it’s five man crew, led by Captain Thomas Musgrave and his business partner Francois Raynal, is […]

Books within books

The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence

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I suspect that a lot of Cannonballers would, like me, immediately pick this book up based on a quick read of the back cover. Evar has lived his whole life trapped in an incomprehensibly enormous library. While Livira, a nobody from a dust town, finds herself inextricably linked to his – and the library’s – fate. Enormous library? Sign me up! I’m not sure if I had a clear idea of my expectations from this book – perhaps a big adventure, or star crossed lovers, […]

Jackson Brodie strikes again

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson

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I saved this book up for a recent hospital stay, knowing that if it was anything like the previous Jackson Brodie novels, it would keep the boredom entirely at bay. This is the fifth in Kate Atkinson’s series, which follows Jackson – an ex police and ex army officer, and now private detective – as he finds himself again embroiled in a series of unfortunate events, and navigates relationships with his exes, children and random strangers. As I re-read this, I realise that it sounds […]

A veritable feast

Food in England: A complete guide to the food that makes us who we are by Dorothy Hartley

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Put simply, this book is the first and last word on absolutely everything to do with traditional English (and British) cooking. I sought it out after a reference to it in, of all things, Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s The Long Earth. That small reference was enough to entice me, but did not prepare me for the sheer scale of Hartley’s work. Published in 1954, it’s a magnum opus that’s as much about cookery as it is about history, and traditional country life. For example, […]



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