Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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About Nart

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Nart is an avid romance reader who dabbles in other stuff when she has the spoons. When she’s not reading she’s a bureaucrat both professionally and as an activist because she’s a masochist. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Nart's Quick Questions interview.)

Nart's Reviews:

“Don’t be jealous, people, but I am the winner of today’s Giant-Pile-of-Shit Scavenger Hunt.”

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen

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The second in Hart and Mercy series. A slow burn, friends to lovers story, with no where near enough dragons. Plot: Twyla was in a generic 80s sitcom bad marriage, where nothing was extremely bad, but nothing was good either. She gave and gave and got nothing back. Then her husband dies and she befriends the guy who lives next door (who was also recently made single from a bad relationship). Both are pretty raw from their unsuccessful first run at a marriage and not […]

“She wondered why she bothered to try to sooth ruffled feathers that never stayed smooth for long”

The Proposal by Mary Balogh

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Plot: Hugo is happy, sort of. He is finally retired from soldiering, having acquitted himself well enough to be given a title and land. He has a little farm where he can give life instead of take it, and he wants absolutely nothing to disturb his hard, hard earned inner peace. Sure, he needs a wife, but he can probably just shout “I’m a rich, titled gentleman” anywhere at all and a suitable candidate will fall into his arms. Incidentally, Gwen is also happy. She […]

“She longed for an opportunity to demonstrate her own resourcefulness.”

The Runaway Duke by Julie Anne Long

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Plot: Rebecca is a gently bred lady, sort of. Her mother did try, and it helps that she has grown up isolated on a large property with limited access to trouble. But whatever trouble she could dig up, she would. Rebecca is bursting at the seams for a true challenge, and with frustration over her impossible dream to become a doctor. Her father, at least, gives her the run of the place, and lets her do as she’d like, sort of. It meant that she […]

“You can’t protect people, kiddo,” Wally said. “All you can do is love them.”

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

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Picked up this old gem for book club to see how we’d experience a book as adults that we last read as high schoolers. I don’t recall disliking it originally, but man did it blow me out of the water this time around. Plot: In a rural part of Maine there is an orphanage called St Clouds. Dr Wilbur Larch, who runs the orphanage, is something of a lowkey celebrity because when women come to his orphanage pregnant, he gives them what they want – […]

“I’ve seen what you read on your Kindle. You’re in no place to judge.”

Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam Young

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A story about an unintended pregnancy, and learning that allowing people to help you does not make you a leech. Plot: Win is a young woman still looking to find her place in the world. She has a limb difference with creates some challenges with some fine mobility tasks, but she absolutely hates being treated differently because of it. She can do just about anything anyone else can, even if it requires a bit of clever ingenuity to accomplish sometimes. One does wonder then, how […]

“One big appeal of fascism, if nothing else, was its unapologetic embrace of cruelty. Cruelty towards others, coupled with hypersensitivity towards any slight to oneself.”

Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow

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For some reason, I’ve been inspired to read about historic accounts of people successfully fighting off fascism. While I had, of course, been aware that Nazis had plenty of fans on this side of the pond, I had not realized the depths of this fandom. Maddow has done a very deep dive into a story that is equal parts hopeful and pants-shittingly terrifying. She methodically follows the powerful people, including dozens of senators and a man who was building towards a strong campaign for the […]



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