Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“My father was a king, and the son of kings”, but nothing more

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

by 6 Comments

Another volume in my Iliad exploration, I missed The Song of Achilles when it first came out in 2012, garnering superlatives and awards, so have come to it rather late. Miller’s book is not a retelling of the Iliad, although she does, of course, deal with its events in the course of the novel, but The Song of Achilles is more concerned with Achilles and his relationship with Patroclus, and fully illuminates the other man as a real person, albeit one who is always in […]

Before I grow up I want to read all the books in the world!

Before I Grew Up by John Miller

The Snail with the Right Heart: A True Story by Maria Popova

by Leave a Comment

Picture book time! The roundup of two different but equally marvelous books are below. They are for all ages, but best for the older (at least five and up) child, but adults please note that these two books are a must read for you. Maybe you will not learn something (though the second does have a bit of gender commentary) but you should find something to be in awe over. The artwork alone is worth the price of admission! Before I Grew Up has some […]

Don’t take my word for it. No really! Find out what you think instead.

Teeny Houdini V01 The Disappearing Act: by Katrina Moore

by Leave a Comment

My review for Teeny Houdini V01 The Disappearing Act: kids will enjoy this second to young third grade read. However, the character attitudes might be a turn off for adults. I could add that Katrina Moore is the author of the book and Zoe Si adds the black and white illustrations. That was 51 words. Only 200 to go. I will also add that this book is about a girl named Bessie. She has a wonderful but conveniently only speaks Chinese, grandmother. Gramma has a […]

Intimate, expansive, wise, sad

The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

by Leave a Comment

I read this book on a recommendation from Modern Mrs. Darcy, who said something about this being the sort of book that, upon reading the last page, she immediately turned to the first page and restarted. I have some reservations about recommending this book as whole heartedly – even MMD noted that she was a little exasperated in the first 75 pages or so. On balance, I would say I really enjoyed this book – it was both more than what it seemed as I […]

A Broad Historical Romance

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory

by 1 Comment

The first novel in the sweeping series, The Cousins War, Philippa Gregory’s The Lady of the Rivers tells the story of Jacquetta Woodville, Lady Rivers. The mother of the eventual queen of England, Elizabeth Woodville, Jacquetta is a young woman from Luxembourg’s royal family. She is married at 17 to the Duke of Bedford who, according to the novel, wished to use her prowess as a wise woman and a seer to increase the power of the nation of England against France and other international powers. Only a […]

If you crossed Crazy Rich Asians with Weekend at Bernies…

Dial A For Aunties by Jessie Q. Sutanto

by 1 Comment

Meddelin Chan is a twentysomething Indo-Chinese woman living in LA with her mother and being slowly henpecked to death by her loving but overbearing family. She works in the family wedding business with her mother and three aunts (Big Aunt, Second Aunt, Fourth Aunt), and they have their biggest wedding yet coming up. When her mother announces that she’s set Meddy up on a blind date, Meddy decides to just go with it, and see what happens. What happens…is that Meddy accidentally kills her date. […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo