Cannonball Read 12

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About Mrs Smith Reads

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Gin-soaked, mildly European democratic-socialist popinjay and avid curator of esoteric ephemera. I work in the future. US passport, Netherlands resident, global citizen. My goal this year is to read authors from diverse backgrounds, especially women, and non-western writers, particularly speculative fiction, political analysis and historical memoirs. (Occasional cursing.)

Mrs Smith Reads's Reviews:

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If you don’t understand women, don’t make one your main character.

Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

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Labyrinth of the Spirits is the fourth and final novel in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It’s a fitting end to an enjoyable series, and does an admirable job of gathering up all the loose threads of the three previous books. Like The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel’s Game and The Prisoner of Heaven, Labyrinth of the Spirits tells a magical mystery story of the dark days of Franco’s Fascist Spain. It does not disappoint in the telling of the story, and I was (mostly) engrossed […]

The Nobel committee doesn’t always get it right.

Democracy In Chains by Nancy MacLean

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I am so far behind on CBR reviews! So, I’m gonna try and get back in the game with this book that I finished just after Christmas 2018. I should probably say up front that if you aren’t into US politics, this probably isn’t for you. But, if you’d like a good historical view of the present-day GOP party and how we got here, well, dive into this one. You won’t be sorry. Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean is an in-depth examination of the early right-wing Libertarian […]

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

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[1/2 CANNONBALL!!!] [BINGO 4 & BINGO 5] After a steady stretch of some seriously challenging reading, I decided that to fill my final CBR10 Bingo square for “The Book Was Better,” I’d read something cheerful and pleasant. So, Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back by PL Travers it was! They were a perfect choice. Since I had only ever seen the Julie Andrews movie from 1964, and had never read any of the books in the series, this seemed a perfect opportunity to read the source material before Mary Poppins Returns comes out […]

…to wound the autumnal city.

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[BINGO 3] I’ve read Dhalgren so many times. Every time is different. Sometimes I devour it, blocking out everything else going on around me. Other times, I read it slowly, with long breaks, dipping in here and there, and savouring each section as I go, as if it was just a collection of stories. I’ve been reading it again in 2018, and not surprisingly, this time felt completely different. One thing is for sure about Dhalgren, it is regarded as Samuel R Delany’s masterpiece of science fiction, but […]

“Fear is Power”

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I did not like reading Fear by Bob Woodward, and I suspect that no one else has either. I can’t say that I learned anything new about the Trump presidency—though my worst fears were confirmed. Trump is not smart. He is not thoughtful. He has no human emotions beyond greed and contempt. Trump is lazy and vengeful. The only *facts* Trump knows are the ones he makes up in his head. Trump’s administration are frankly more evil than Trump himself. Despite their belief that they are “protecting” the […]



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