Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About Zirza

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I am an English teacher from the Low Countries. Like everyone else I aspire to one day write a Booker Prize Winner, but until then I contend my self with reading stuff and writing about it. I try to keep the bitchiness to a minimum, but sometimes I can't help myself. In my spare time I enjoy complaining about the weather and sleeping. I lack the attention span for good books and the tolerance for bad ones. I am stuck in literary purgatory. Hey, at least it's warm here.

Zirza's Reviews:

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> Articles by: Zirza

A Horse is a Horse, Of Course, Of Course

The Institute by Stephen King

December 18, 2022 by Zirza 1 Comment

Luke Ellis is gifted. Not only does he have a very high IQ but he’s also mature for his age. Even though he’s only twelve he knows how to think things through, how to plan ahead. And sometimes, when he’s upset, things move around on their own account. He’s set for MIT with the help of his loving parents when a group of intruders sneak into his house, kill his parents and take him. He wakes up in a building deep inside the forests of […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Horror, Mystery Tagged With: Stephen King, the institute

Zirza's CBR14 Review No:53 · Genres: Fiction, Horror, Mystery · Tags: Stephen King, the institute ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Full Cannonball, Total Banger

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

December 8, 2022 by Zirza 4 Comments

Alright, maybe not a total banger – more like a satisfyingly slow burn – but I wanted to finish my Cannonball Read with something I’ve wanted to read for a while and it ended up being this. I was planning on reading it someday, so when I came across a copy in at a thrift store (cost me about three bucks in conjunction with The Little Friend) I figured fate was trying to tell me something.  I was working as a lowly book shop employee […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: college life, crime, Crimebags, Donna Tartt, the secret history

Zirza's CBR14 Review No:52 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: college life, crime, Crimebags, Donna Tartt, the secret history ·
Rating:
· 4 Comments

Deck the Halls

The Christmas Party by Karen Swan

December 8, 2022 by Zirza Leave a Comment

On a cold winter night on Ireland’s west coast, Declan Lorne, the last Lord of Ireland, throws a lavish party at his magnificent castle. The location is wonderful, the guests are old friends who all know each other, the atmosphere is great. But before the night is out he dies, leaving behind his bereft wife, three twentysomething daughters and a dilapidated estate with no money to fix it. The next unpleasant surprise comes when his will is read: he leaves the estate not to his […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Romance Tagged With: castle, christmas, horses, Ireland, Karen Swan, Romance, The Christmas Party

Zirza's CBR14 Review No:51 · Genres: Fiction, Romance · Tags: castle, christmas, horses, Ireland, Karen Swan, Romance, The Christmas Party ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Trudging through Drudgery

The Ritual by Mo Hayder

Magnus by Arjen Lubach

November 30, 2022 by Zirza Leave a Comment

The Ritual (Mo Hayder) ***½ When it comes to thrillers and crime fiction, I’m stuck in a quandary in the sense that I usually like the idea better than the execution. My main problem is that so many books within the genre seem so badly written: the characters are flat, the prose is hokey and the authors always seem to want to outdo each other by coming up with either the goriest or the most outlandish plots. There are plenty of exceptions, of course, but […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Africa, Arjen Lubach, diving, Jack Caffery, Jack Caffery series, Mo Hayder, Sweden, The Ritual, witchcraft

Zirza's CBR14 Review No:50 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Africa, Arjen Lubach, diving, Jack Caffery, Jack Caffery series, Mo Hayder, Sweden, The Ritual, witchcraft ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

The Dinner

The Dinner by Herman Koch

October 31, 2022 by Zirza 1 Comment

An unremarkable couple stand in an unremarkable pub drinking unremarkable beer. Their names are Paul and Claire. They’re bracing themselves, for they are about to go to dinner with Paul’s brother Serge and his wife Babette. Serge is a rising star in national politics, primed for the position of PM after the elections, which are only six months away. Paul has picked the restaurant (mere mortals will need to book months in advance but they keep a table back for ‘people like me’), for they […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Herman Koch, The Dinner

Zirza's CBR14 Review No:48 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Herman Koch, The Dinner ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Slightly Baffled

Bewilderment by Richard Powers

October 30, 2022 by Zirza Leave a Comment

Warning: here be spoilers America, sometime in the near future. Astrobiologist Theo Byrne raises his son Robin alone after the death of his wife. He feels like he’s doing a terrible job, especially when Robin is sent home from school for smashing his only friend’s face with a thermos. Robin is a complicated child; intelligent but suffering from Aspergers, ADHD, OCD and probably a few other things. Theo is weary to accept the decision; Robin’s school, meanwhile, is pushing him to put the boy on […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: ADHD, Asperger's, autism, Bewilderment, child psychology, cllimate change, Environment, flowers for algernon, politics, Psychology, richard powers

Zirza's CBR14 Review No:47 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: ADHD, Asperger's, autism, Bewilderment, child psychology, cllimate change, Environment, flowers for algernon, politics, Psychology, richard powers ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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