Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Jean Reidy has style

Group Hug by Jean Reidy

Sylvie by Jean Reidy

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Some people like hugs, some do not, but in Group Hug by Jean Reidy, Slug likes them and wants to give a hug. They find a lonely beetle and hug them. And then they find Mouse, and Skunk and Squirrel and all their other friends and pass along big group hugs. That is until Bear wants a hug. But nobody wants to be brave enough, after all bears are not known for their, shall we say vegetarian diets. This story is about kindness and knowing […]

The Sixth Day is for Music

Sofi and the Bone Song by Adrienne Tooley

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Sofi has been training all her life to replace her father as Musik, but when beautiful, untrained Lara wins the role instead, she suspects  there may be illegal magic involved. A long while ago I read about the Polgár sisters, a trio of Hungarian chess prodigies who were very carefully reared by their father to eat, sleep, and breath chess. I found myself simultaneously fascinated and horrified at this single-minded cultivation of genius, because it sounded like a terrible thing to do to children, robbing […]

An action movie of a book

Mercy by David Baldacci

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My soon-to-be father-in-law recommended that I read Mercy (2021) by David Baldacci. I’d never heard of the book or author, but it sounded interesting enough. I was also curious what kind of book my fiancé’s father would think I would like. To be fair, I was told that this was the fourth book in the Atlee Pine series, and I should read the other three books first. I did not, but I was also told that the fourth book is the best one. I decided that reading […]

Some bad men

Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine

The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy

Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

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Journey to the End of the Night – 4/5 Stars This one is a bitter pill. Not for me, but for the writer and character. I don’t know how much of this is a roman a clef, a veiled memoir, or a persona allowing the writer to hide within the text. But the novel itself is drenched in sarcasm, irony, cynicism, and disgust. We begin with our narrator finding his way into the army right near the beginning of WWI. This of course is not […]

“That we have some history together that hasn’t happened yet.”

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

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Why do I keep waiting so long to dig into word-of-mouth and critically acclaimed smashes? Twelve years later (and not a moment too soon), I finally get The Fuss around A Visit From the Goon Squad. I remember reading The Keep near the official release date, but Goon Squad eluded me for over a decade…or perhaps I eluded it? On the upside of being a latecomer, I am more likely to find these books in my neighborhood’s Little Free Libraries. Hooray! I love how “a novel” is emphasized on […]

Literary Hub Made Me Do It

Hôtel Splendid by Marie Redonnet

Rose Mellie Rose by Marie Redonnet

Forever Valley by Marie Redonnet

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It is VERY hard for me to turn away from a listicle. I love a list; from making them myself to seeking them out, lists give me order AND fun- the best of both worlds! The fine folks over at Literary Hub are keen on list-making, and having enjoyed things they have recommended before (hello, The Lover!) I was pleased as punch to track down this loose “trilogy” from Marie Redonnet after spotting it in a list of short reads. I, and Redonnet (and translator […]



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