Cannonball Read 18

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. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Zirza's Quick Questions interview.)

Zirza's Reviews:

The Luck of the Irish

Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry

June 25, 2024 by Zirza Leave a Comment

Retired detective Tom Kettle sits in his wicker chair in front of the window of his seaside apartment in a small, nameless Irish village. He watches the cormorants, he looks at the boxes of books he still hasn’t put up, and he thinks about cleaning his oven and about his deceased wife June, his long-lost children. One day, two detectives show up at his door to ask about a cold case: a priest, stabbed and thrown off a cliff a decade or so earlier. New […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History, Mystery Tagged With: Catholicism, Ireland, Old God's Time, Sebastian Barry

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:31 · Genres: Fiction, History, Mystery · Tags: Catholicism, Ireland, Old God's Time, Sebastian Barry ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Murder Misery

This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter

June 19, 2024 by Zirza Leave a Comment

Newlyweds Sara (forensic pathologist) and Will (GBI agent) have decided to splurge on their honeymoon; they’ve rented a cabin at the exclusive McAlpine lodge, deep in the Appalachian Mountains, for a week of horseback riding, fishing, mountain biking and – as is made abundantly clear – loads of steamy sex. But because this a Karin Slaughter novel and somehow everything always has to tie into the character’s personal lives, during their first night, Mercy McAlpine, the resort’s manager, is found dead.  First of all: Mercy […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: Appalachia, Karin Slaughter, locked room mystery, This is why we lied, Violence Against women, Will Trent

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:30 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: Appalachia, Karin Slaughter, locked room mystery, This is why we lied, Violence Against women, Will Trent ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Gone, but not forgotten

Exiles by Jane Harper

June 3, 2024 by Zirza Leave a Comment

On a warm spring night, during a busy festival in South Australia’s wine region, a six week old baby sleeps in her pram. Her mother is nowhere to be seen.  A year on, Kim Gillespie is still nowhere to be found. Investigator Aaron Falk, who works for Australia’s financial crimes department, heads down to old friends for the baptism of their young son, but as he meets their extended group of relatives, friends and acquaintances, he starts to be drawn into the mystery. It can […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: aaron falk, Australia, Exiles, Jane Harper, missing persons

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:29 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: aaron falk, Australia, Exiles, Jane Harper, missing persons ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Holiday Reads Part Deux, because I apparently read better in a tent

Craven Manor by Darcy Coates

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carré

May 19, 2024 by Zirza Leave a Comment

Craven Manor (Darcy Coates) *** Daniel is down on his luck. He’s a decent guy (this is made abundantly clear) but the only thing keeping him from homelessness is his slob of a cousin. One day, a letter is pushed underneath the door of Daniel’s apartment, mysteriously offering him a job on a mysterious manor that Daniel has never seen even though he grew up in the town. With great trepidation, he makes his way over to Craven Manor, an abandoned home in the middle […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: craven manor, Darcy Coates, george smiley, Haunted House, horror, john le carré, the spy who came in from the cold

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:28 · Genres: Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: craven manor, Darcy Coates, george smiley, Haunted House, horror, john le carré, the spy who came in from the cold ·
· 0 Comments

Chilling.

Snow by John Banville

May 13, 2024 by Zirza 2 Comments

It’s impossible for me to review this novel without providing SPOILERS, so read at your own peril.  Rural Ireland, 1957. Detective St. John Strafford (with an R) has been summoned to a country estate in the south-east of Ireland, where a Catholic priest has been found dead in the house of a Protestant land owner. The real kicker: the priest has been castrated. It’s December and the countryside is cloaked in a thick blanket of snow that chokes out sound and hides evidence. Under the […]

Filed Under: History, Mystery Tagged With: Catholic church, Ireland, john banville, snow, Spoilers, Trigger Warning

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:26 · Genres: History, Mystery · Tags: Catholic church, Ireland, john banville, snow, Spoilers, Trigger Warning ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

Campsite Reads

The Alewives by Elizabeth R. Andersen

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

May 13, 2024 by Zirza Leave a Comment

We took a brief holiday over the Ascension Day weekend, and because my kids didn’t really want to leave the campsite I got the chance to catch up on my reading. I finished three books. The third one deserves its own review, but I grouped the other two together. The Alewives (Elizabeth R. Anderson) **  In the Middle Ages, in the tannery district of the Alsation town of Colmar, four women team up to brew ale, bemoan their useless and/or dead husbands, and solve crimes. […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History, Suspense Tagged With: Elizabeth R. Andersen, Lock Every Door, new york, Riley Sager, The Alewives, The Alewives of Colmar

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:25 · Genres: Fiction, History, Suspense · Tags: Elizabeth R. Andersen, Lock Every Door, new york, Riley Sager, The Alewives, The Alewives of Colmar ·
· 0 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • MsWas
    on Y’all… a delightful break from the stress of life
    And throwing in Grandma Mazur from the Stephanie Plum novels too? That's really tempting...
  • Liz
    on The Curse of Obedience
    LOL! I appreciate your advice! I read the synopsis of the movie and was like "huh."
  • beereadsbooks
    on The Curse of Obedience
    I've re-read Ella Enchanted a few times and adore it. I've only seen the movie once, when I had much...
  • Dome'Loki
    on Y’all… a delightful break from the stress of life
    This sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks for the review.
  • Dome'Loki
    on Life, love, and sex are better when you reject the idea of cringe and embrace wonder
    I like this concept! Thanks for the review.
See More Recent Comments »

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