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:

A foundation for something more engaging

Troy by Stephen Fry

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Bingo: Mythic The story of the fall of Troy is baked into Western culture. As I read this book I was reminded of so many other cultural artefacts built on the same foundation. In my head I could hear Sinead O’Connor wailing “there is no other Troy for you to burn”.  I remembered reading The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri Tepper in my teens, where the women of this future dystopia ritually perform Iphigenia at Ilium each year, a reminder of the price that men’s […]

Vital piece of an important literary legacy

Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks

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Iain (M) Banks is one, or should I say two, of my favourite authors.  It’s been a while since I read any of his Culture novels, so I went back to the beginning with Consider Phlebas, the first in a series of standalone novels in this shared setting.  If you are not familiar with Banks, this is a great place to start. The Culture is a galaxy spanning symbiotic civilisation of humans and sentient machines, living decadent post-scarcity lives.  Consider Phlebas is set during their war […]

Character-driven crime, as seen on TV

Bad Debts (Jack Irish 1) by Peter Temple

Dead Point (Jack Irish 3) by Peter Temple

White Dog (Jack Irish 4) by Peter Temple

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Yes, I’m reviewing books 1, 3 and 4 of a series, and one that really should be read in order.  But I picked these up in my usual cheapskate way – tempted by some kind of Kindle Deal too good to refuse, and I’d already seen the TV movies, so I wasn’t too fussed that I read them out of order (3, then 4, then 1) and don’t have 2 yet. Jack Irish (played by Guy Pearce on TV) is a former criminal lawyer, still […]

Crone power

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

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My first exposure to Howl’s Moving Castle was the Studio Ghibli film version., which I found utterly charming.  So when the Kindle Daily Deal dangled a bargain before me, I pounced, and am pleased to say that the book is similarly delightful. Howl’s Moving Castle takes place in an unspecified European landscape ruled by a fairytale logic, where Sophie Hatter, as the eldest of three daughters, is resigned to nothing interesting ever happening to her.  It’s always the youngest of three (or seven) that has […]

Charming and fun

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

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Join Lord Henry “Monty” Montague, his bookish sister Felicity and best friend/crush Percy as they embark on a Grand Tour of Europe.  The trip is intended to expose Monty to culture, or at least take his embarassing behaviour out of the sight of his father and anyone else important in England.  When he returns he is expected to pick up the reins and be the dutiful son and heir. The sensible well laid plans of  minder Lockwood have no chance against Monty’s recklessness.  Percy is […]

Interesting enough, but with some glaring blindspots

Talking to Strangers: what we should know about the people we don't know by Malcolm Gladwell

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This was an interesting but ultimately frustrating read.  In his engaging style, Gladwell unpacks a set of human psychological traits that lead us to be very bad at assessing the motives of people we don’t know.  But for a book that centres the tragic death of Sandra Bland, there is a huge hole at the centre.  Every interaction with a stranger is shaped by our race, gender and position on a multitude of other social hierarchies that are barely acknowledged to Gladwell’s analysis. After starting […]



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