Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Longing for the sound of an electric guitar

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

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I finally put this on my reading list after one of the CBR13 happy hours. Someone mentioned that Emily St. John Mandel had a new book coming out that they were looking forward to, and somehow I pulled that thread and made my way back to Station Eleven. I had been aware of it before that conversation, yet the blurb had never struck my fancy, likely because I have a very complicated relationship with dystopian fiction. Frankly, and as has been noted on this site […]

In this life, you just never know what’s around the bend, be it a dead man or your next date.

The Maid by Nita Prose

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A lot of folks raved about this book. Not trying to sound all contrary, but I do not understand what the appeal is here. I am vexed. The plot is pretty easily summarized. Molly, a neuroatypical woman, was abandoned by her mother who suffered from drug addiction. She is raised by her grandmother and follows in her footsteps, when she graduates from high school, and becomes a maid. Extremely disciplined and focused on cleanliness, Molly is perfectly cut out for her occupation at a high […]

Strangers with shared memories.

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange

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My book club’s selections tend to skew towards generational turmoil and great cover art. This method has yielded some good ones and some clunkers. This one? Well, it falls somewhere in the middle. The Brennans are an upper middle class family living in a commuter town north of New York City. Both the mother and father are Irish immigrants who carved out a suburban white picket fence life for their four children: Denny the popular athlete, Jackie the senstive artist screw up, Sunday the dependable […]

I can’t tell if this is a good or bad thing.

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas

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So many thoughts. First and most important? Please get a new editor, Ms. Maas. A brutal editor or team of brutal editors is imperative for the next book. Your literary garden needs some serious weeding, lady. The blooms are there but they are choked under the kudzu. The weight of these books pushes me closer to carpal tunnel syndrome unnecessarily. End of rant. Well, maybe not…This book is another doorstop. Took me over a month to finish it. I nearly stopped reading it several times […]

Charm and irreverance happen to be my two favorite traits.

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

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Yep. Still riding the Maas train all the way to the station, I guess. This is the first book in the Crescent City series and it has all of the crazy world-building, will they won’t they, and wing-ed love interests that make a Maas book a Maas book. Whew. I really, really thought I was going to give up on this one until about 1/4 of the way in. Since this is an 800 page doorstop of a book, that was a good 200 pages of me […]

Just pug out

Noodle and the No Bones Day by Jonathan Graziano

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I admit, I have never been a “dog person.” I have liked a dog or three in my day but prefer books about them. And while I found a few cute ones, this review is about a pug named Noodle. (Check back for more later). Noodle and the No Bones Day is not what you think. No, poor Noodle is not looking for a snack/some bones (though he usually is looking for a snack), they just have no bones today. They usually are sweet, silly, […]



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