Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

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:

I… What?

Find Me by Alafair Burke

April 1, 2024 by Zirza Leave a Comment

I finished this book yesterday and I’ve forgotten what this was about already. Oh, sorry, you need more from a review?  I guess it was okay.  Really, guys, I’m not sure what else to tell you. It wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t super interesting, and it was forgettable.  Alright. Fine.  It’s about a girl named Hope. A decade or so ago, Hope was in a car crash, driving a stolen vehicle. She had no idea and woke up in the hospital with complete memory loss and […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Suspense Tagged With: Alafair Burke, Ellie Hatcher, Find Me, Memory loss, new york

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:17 · Genres: Fiction, Suspense · Tags: Alafair Burke, Ellie Hatcher, Find Me, Memory loss, new york ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Loser

Win by Harlan Coben

March 29, 2024 by Zirza Leave a Comment

Normally I’d start a review with a brief plot summary. I know opinions are divided on this, but personally I appreciate not having to go to another website to look up the plot when someone raves about a book. But I honestly don’t remember much about this book. Something with two stolen paintings, a dead hermit, and a rich guy.  Because Winford Something III would very much like you to know that he is rich. Very rich. Private jet rich. Helicopter rich. He can’t help […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: eat the rich, Harlan Coben, new york, Win

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:16 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: eat the rich, Harlan Coben, new york, Win ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Zut Alors

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

March 23, 2024 by Zirza 1 Comment

Chronic fuck-up Jess has once again chronically fucked something up, so she decides to do the only sensible thing she can: hightail it to the French capital, where her brother resides. Her brother has assured her she’s always welcome in that way people have when they don’t mean it, but though Jess isn’t expecting a particularly warm welcome, she’s surprised that her brother is nowhere to be found. Nevertheless, she lets herself into his fancy apartment, hoping he’ll come home soon. He doesn’t, and soon […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: Lucy Foley, missing persons, mystery, paris, The Paris Apartment

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:15 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: Lucy Foley, missing persons, mystery, paris, The Paris Apartment ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

The Swining Sixties

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

March 13, 2024 by Zirza Leave a Comment

Yeah, I made a typo, but it’s staying. London, 1967. Bass player Dean Moss is flat-out broke, homeless, and ready to give up on his dreams and head back home to find some dreary menial job for the rest of his life, when he meets a music producer named Levon. Levon hasn’t had much luck so far and this is his last stab at success, so he sets Dean up with folk singer and pianist Elf (short for Elizabeth Frances), drummer Griff and guitarist Jasper. […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: David Mitchell, drug use, London, music, psychedelia, Swinging Sixties, utopia avenue

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:14 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: David Mitchell, drug use, London, music, psychedelia, Swinging Sixties, utopia avenue ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

A Game of Chicken

City of Thieves by David Benioff

March 2, 2024 by Zirza 3 Comments

Seventeen year old Lev lives alone in Leningrad. It’s 1942 and the siege is in full swing; Lev’s mother has left the city with his younger sister. Lev’s father, a renowned poet, has been dispatched by the NKVD years ago into an unmarked grave, and so Lev lives alone in his apartment building, with people who share his fate but that aren’t his friends. There is little more to do for Lev than read chess manuals and focus on the all-encompassing hunger he feels. One […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History, Suspense Tagged With: City of Thieves, david benioff, hunger, Nazis, Siege of Leningrad, World War II

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:13 · Genres: Fiction, History, Suspense · Tags: City of Thieves, david benioff, hunger, Nazis, Siege of Leningrad, World War II ·
Rating:
· 3 Comments

Unfussy (and that’s a good thing)

The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben

Dead Lake by Darcy Coates

February 26, 2024 by Zirza Leave a Comment

After forcing my way through one of the hallmarks of 19th century European literature (voluntarily, no less) I decided I deserved something less fussy, and so I picked Coates (always a reliable plck for moderately scary yet uncomplicated) and Harlan Coben, whom I’d never read before and kept putting off because people were giving me high expectations.  Let me preface this by saying I’m typing this after spending the entire weekend abroad with my students and coherence is not my forte at the moment, so […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: Darcy Coates, Dead Lake, Harlan Coben, horror, monsters, The Boy From the Woods, Wilde

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:12 · Genres: Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: Darcy Coates, Dead Lake, Harlan Coben, horror, monsters, The Boy From the Woods, Wilde ·
· 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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