Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Can You Steal Somebody Else’s Story?

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

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I love books about authors, bookstores, libraries, and publishing. I am drawn to stories about stories.  So of course I had to read The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. The plot of The Plot (say that ten times fast) is about a struggling writer who steals a sure thing plot from a student in his creative writing class. Jake is a writer who had decent success with his first novel (got a New York Times Review) and after two unsuccessful follow ups is not sure […]

Island Time

The Color of Air by Gail Tsukiyama

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I’ve been to Hawaii twice in my life: once in my early 20s, and the other time a family vacation about 5 years ago.  And both times I was fortunately to be able to spend some time in Hilo, on the big island.  It is absolutely my favorite place on the islands – old school, totally laid back, and very few tourists.  I don’t think it changed a whit during the forty-odd years in between my two trips.  And that is probably why I enjoyed […]

None of us ever find enough kindness in the world, do we?

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

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To understand the world at all, sometimes you could only focus on a tiny bit of it, look very hard at what was close at hand and make it stand in for the whole. When I finish a project or some small, self-assigned goal, one of my rewards is gathering a pile of books from my TBR list, usually used paperbacks. For coming-of-age stories, this one had a ton of reviews and, when I spotted it at a half priced books, I snatched it up. […]

Sprawling, impressive, and oddly hollow

Everfair by Nisi Shawl

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Oh man, I was so excited to read Everfair. It won or was nominated for basically every major speculative fiction award. And the premise is just awesome — a reimagining of the history of the Belgian colonization of the Congo, where Afrofuturistic steampunk technology turns the region’s history away from the atrocities committed by King Leopold. Buttttt … well, let me pull out a couple of threads from this — and I mean this earnestly — this incredibly idea-rich, epic work. The book is told […]

Take a diabolical voyage on the high seas!

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

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The year is 1634, and the United East India Company is the wealthiest, and most powerful, trade company in the world. The most profitable spice route is between Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) and the Company headquarters in Amsterdam where the ruling board of the Company, the Gentlemen 17, place profit over all other considerations. This route takes eight months to cross and is perilous and arduous. In Batavia, the massive cargo-passenger ship Saardam is about to set sail for Amsterdam with a mysterious cargo, along with […]

Surf and Secrets in Malibu

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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‘The Malibu fire of 1983 started not in the dry hills but on the coastline. It began at 28150 Cliffside Drive on Saturday, August 27—at the home of Nina Riva—during one of the most notorious parties in Los Angeles history. The annual party grew wildly out of control sometime around midnight. By 7:00 a.m., the coastline of Malibu was engulfed in flames. Because, just as it is in Malibu’s nature to burn, so was it in one particular person’s nature to set fire and walk […]



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