Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life.”

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

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Cbr17bingo School This short novel is considered Muriel Spark’s best work. Set in a girls’ school in Edinburgh in the 1930s, it tells the story of a group of school girls and their influential, charismatic teacher Miss Jean Brodie. “The Brodie Set,” as the girls and their teacher are known, attract envy and suspicion from both students and staff at Marcia Blaine school as Miss Brodie flouts convention and invites her young students into confidences that are deeply inappropriate. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie […]

If it were me, I’d be hiding in one of the mansion’s many libraries.

The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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Well, my other suggestion involves preemptively whacking the entire Hawthorne family, and I was afraid you’d take that as a euphemism. ― Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Inheritance Games CBR17 Bingo: Green Avery Grambs is no stranger to pain. Orphaned after her mother’s death, and abandoned by her father, Avery is left to raise herself. Other than her older, half-sister Libby, the only one looking out for Avery is Avery. When Libby’s abusive boyfriend moves into their apartment, Avery moves out. Sleeping in her car, working […]

There’s something about Mary

Allegedly: A Novel by Tiffany D. Jackson

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Cbr17bingo White (bingo #1) I’ve previously read and favorably reviewed two of Tiffany D. Jackson’s novels: Monday’s Not Coming and Grown. Jackson is an outstanding YA novelist, taking on challenging topics such as murder, sexual predation and mental illness. Her novels feature black girls who are sexualized and viewed as adults even though they are children. Allegedly, Jackson’s 2017 debut novel, involves all of the above: a black girl accused of murdering a white baby, her abuse while incarcerated, teenaged pregnancy, and lots of undiagnosed […]

The Great Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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I was watching a bunch of kids last week and after a full morning at the pool there was a moment of quiet as they all became engrossed in their various screens. I didn’t want to disturb the peace and I also didn’t want to do chores, and I couldn’t find my Kindle, so I reached over the bookshelf and I picked up the dog-eared copy of The Great Gatsby that I purchased in approximately 1999 – I was delighted to see my youthful handwriting […]

Leave it to the Amateurs

The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra

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I saw this novel, the first of a series, recommended recently in the New York Times in a feature on cozy mysteries. Cozies aren’t my favorites, but as long as the mystery itself is well-constructed, I can enjoy them just fine. Sadly, this is not the case with The Bangalore Detectives Club, a frankly amateurish effort in which the mystery is a transparent afterthought. Now, I don’t mind authors using genre fiction, especially detective novels, as a vehicle for social commentary, but there are two […]

Gothic mystery novel at it’s most just finest

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

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While on a trip to Montreal, I had a back up book in the suitcase, but the mood just wasn’t right for The Haunting of Hill House – hot, humid holidays do not call for scary, dense, chilly horror novels. So, while wandering through Old Montreal, we found a multi-lingual bookstore a few minutes before closing. Feeling rushed, I picked one of the staff recommendations, a mystery novel with a very bright cover. I had never heard of Riley Sager before but I do seem […]



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