Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About Merryn

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Merryn's Reviews:

“Just because you don’t experience prejudice in your everyday doesn’t stop it existing for the rest of us.”

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T J Klune

September 1, 2023 by Merryn Leave a Comment

Bingo: Queer Lives;  Passport: Sweet weird It’s no spoiler to say that it was obvious how this book was going to end right from the start, or at least from the moment in protagonist Linus Barker’s train journey when “the gray darkness gave way to a bright and wonderful blue like Linus had never seen before”. Linus is a caseworker in the drab and regimented Department in Charge of Magical Youth, an inspector of orphanages for children gifted, or afflicted, with traits of myth and […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, sweet weird, T.J. Klune

Merryn's CBR15 Review No:17 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, sweet weird, T.J. Klune ·
· 0 Comments

Watching Beckett while the world burns

The Performance by Claire Thomas

August 26, 2023 by Merryn Leave a Comment

Bingo: Bodies;  Passport: Contemporary fiction On the stage a woman is buried up to her waist in a hill of parched grass, desperately cheerful under the blazing light.  In the theatre three women watch, their thoughts sliding between the performance, their surroundings and their lives outside.  Margot sits with her “expensive, unobstructed view of the stage” trying not to think about the meeting with the dean, when the prospect of her retirement was spoken aloud.  Margot is tense, envious of the woman’s offstage husband and […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, Claire Thomas

Merryn's CBR15 Review No:16 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, Claire Thomas ·
· 0 Comments

“Even the afterlife is designed to keep the masses stupid.”

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

August 25, 2023 by Merryn Leave a Comment

Bingo: Asia/Oceania; Passport: Sri Lanka Maali Almeida is dead.  He can’t remember exactly what happened, and it takes a while for the reality of his situation to sink in.  Death is confusing, a bureaucratic maze with rules that everyone seems to expect him to already know, and forms that must be filled in before his seven days are up and he must choose what happens next. Maali desperately wants to know how he died.  He can follow his body through the ghost-ridden streets of Colombo […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: booker prize winner, CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, magic realism, Shehan Karunatilaka, Sri Lanka

Merryn's CBR15 Review No:15 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: booker prize winner, CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, magic realism, Shehan Karunatilaka, Sri Lanka ·
· 0 Comments

Coming soon to a screen near you

Damascus Station by David McCloskey

August 25, 2023 by Merryn 3 Comments

Bingo: Politics, Passport: Syria This is a book that’s begging to be made into a movie, or maybe a prestige mini series.  It ticks all the boxes.   Author David McCloskey, is a former CIA agent, so will have some great anecdotes for the promotional tour. Main character Sam Joseph would be a great role for someone trying to break into the action hero gig before the old guys hog all the lead roles forever using CGI to stay young.  There are also strong female characters […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, David McCloskey, spy thriller

Merryn's CBR15 Review No:14 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, David McCloskey, spy thriller ·
· 3 Comments

“He hated this place. He loved it.”

Babel by R F Kuang

August 18, 2023 by Merryn Leave a Comment

Bingo: History;  Passport: China Babel is historical fiction stirred with magic, the story of imperialism set in a world just a sidestep from our own told through the eyes of an outsider awakening to harsh realities. We meet Robin as a small boy who has survived a cholera outbreak that has killed his mother and ravaged his birthplace of Canton and is taken to England by his mentor.  His Chinese name is unimportant to Professor Lovell, so we never learn it.   Robin’s skill with language […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: alternative history, CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, R.F. Kuang

Merryn's CBR15 Review No:13 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: alternative history, CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, R.F. Kuang ·
· 0 Comments

Handing trauma down the line

Denizen by James Mackenzie Watson

August 12, 2023 by Merryn Leave a Comment

Bingo: Violence; Passport: Bush noir Denizen is one of the most disturbing books I have ever read.  I bought it thinking I was getting another “bush noir” – an Australian crime subgenre focussed on rural murders. What I actually got was a lot more interesting, but also much more confronting.  I think my Kindle skipped over the warning at the front that “this book depicts mental ill health and self harm” as its dark turn took me by surprise.  The narrative has a familiar crime […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: bush noir, CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, James Mackenzie Watson, rural life, thriller

Merryn's CBR15 Review No:12 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: bush noir, CBR15, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, James Mackenzie Watson, rural life, thriller ·
· 0 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • denesteak
    on so, here goes the same resolution I make every year: to review all the books that I’ve read in a timely fashion !
    Yes! Love show Svetlana as a wise, childhood friend/comfort. I think they did the show adaptation so well... only issue...
  • wicherwill
    on so, here goes the same resolution I make every year: to review all the books that I’ve read in a timely fashion !
    I think the retcon of Svetlana into a childhood friend was one of the more genius moves, because it fixes...
  • finnyfinfinn
    on California fairy tale dreamin’
    I immediately grabbed this from the library to reread. Francesca Lia Block was my hero in high school!
  • denesteak
    on Visceral Honesty and Gorgeous Writing
    sounds amazing, i'll put it on my list. Thank you for the review!!
  • wicherwill
    on I’m Glad I Kept Reading
    This is one I think you should read without reading the blurb even, because for whatever reason I (who am...
See More Recent Comments »

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