Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Crime Yarns of Varied Awesomeness

Be My Enemy by Christopher Brookmyre

Last One Out by Jane Harper

Never Flinch by Steven King

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Way back in 1996, I picked up a book by Christopher Brookmyre based on a staff recommendation in a long-since-closed book store.  I’ve never regretted it, and I’ve gone on to read and reread all his books.  This Christmas, it was Be My Enemy (or Fuck This for a Game of Soldiers). Set at the opening weekend for a teambuilding retreat in the Scottish highlands, the novel unites an eclectic group of advertising execs, PR teams, one crime reporter (familiar from earlier books), and a […]

Girls Made of Snow & Glass

Girls Made of Snow & Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

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A retelling – of sorts – of Snow White, Bashardoust’s first novel, before Girl, Serpent, Thorn is just as compelling, if not quite as lyrically captivating as its slightly more assured successor. Mina, 16, beautiful, and heartless, is thrown into the path of the King of Whitespring Castle by her evil magician father.  The King has lost his wife, leaving him with a daughter, Lynet, who is her mother’s mirror image.  Mina plots to win his heart, and secure safety, love, family – and freedom […]

This Was A Ride

The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves & China Mieville

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This is the only book I managed to write a thumbnail review of in 2025!  I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that Mr GirlWhoGotOverIt is going to love this, when it inevitably gets turned into a streaming series. I came into this without having read any of the Brzrkr  graphic novels that inspired it, but with a familiarity with China Mieville’s work.  As such, I’m kind of having a giggle a the Amazon reviews that say “don’t read this without a thesaurus.”  […]

Worst Books of the Year

My Year of Rest & Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh

All Fours by Miranda July

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One DNF, and one left in an airport in Liverpool, UK, these were books that simply did not land for me.  I actually felt like All Fours’ narrator could have been the grown up version of the narrator from My Year of Rest & Relaxation – their dissatisfaction and ennui felt like the same flavour, to me. It might be slightly ironic that in my own perimenopause, I lack the patience to connect with The Perimenopause Book.  All Fours has its moments – there is […]

Trent Dalton’s Latest is Not What I Expected

Gravity Let Me Go by Trent Dalton

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I think it was about page 42 of Trent Dalton’s latest when I messaged my sister: “This is not what I expected, but if he can land it, I’ll be impressed.” He landed it, and again, I’m impressed with Dalton.  Which I am sure means so, so much to him. All of Dalton’s books are different enough that I wouldn’t even say he has a consistent genre, beyond “Australian fiction.”  All Our Shimmering Skies was a fable, Lola In The Mirror was akin to an […]

In the year 2025, I’m Team Cozy Murders

Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

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I’ll be frank: this year hasn’t been easy.  I’m one of the first people to admit I’m sitting in a super-privileged position, and there are loads of people worse off than Mr Wen and I.  And yet.  It’s a world that’s demanded a certain, self-medicating level of whimsy (and, in some cases, Wimsey) (I’m sorry) in the novels I’m escaping into.  I’ve reread Dorothy Sayers, Margaret Maron, and Penny Reid.  I’ve joined The Best Niece in Australia on the Keeper of the Lost Cities train, […]



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