Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Princesses, pirates and sisters

Story Spinners: A Sisterly Tale of Danger, a Princess, and Her Crew of Lady Pirates by Cassandra Federman

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I started a review once that said that I like sibling books and sister books in particular. Story Spinners: A Sisterly Tale of Danger, a Princess, and Her Crew of Lady Pirates written and illustrated by Cassandra Federman is one of those books. Currently available, this is a cute story about modern day sisters, with one having some old school ideas that get messy when the sisters unite to tell their “other sister” a bedtime story. Of course, there is more than that. The oldest […]

Read for the translator, stay for the spaceship description

Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang

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I like Ken Liu’s own writing, but I love his translations. So when Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang came out about a year ago, I bought it, read the translator’s notes immediately, read the notes to my politely smiling husband, then shelved the book for a later time. The time has come. My knowledge of China is piecemealy and Jumpnauts assumes that the reader has a better understanding of the country and its history than I do – which makes sense since the book and its […]

A sublime take on Groundhog Day

On the Calculation of Volume, Book I by Solvej Balle

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On November 18, Tara Selter wakes up in Paris and goes about her day of meeting with book sellers to view and purchase rare editions for the business she runs with her husband, Thomas. She goes to sleep that night with a plan for November 19, more appointments to keep, more books to consider. When she wakes up, she slowly comes to understand that she is reliving November 18 again. Anyone who has seen the Bill Murray classic (one of my favorite comedies, I’m not […]

“Last week I considered going jogging in flip-flops just to remind myself how sex sounds.”

The True Love Experience by Christina Lauren

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StoryGraph Easy Reading Challenge 25: A book with two authors Felicity “Fizzy” Chen loves her life and career as a romance writer. The problem is that she’s suffering from a bad case of writers’ block, and when she’s asked about her personal life in interviews or author panels, it’s not like she can confess to never actually having been in love, right? A romance writer should surely have experienced romantic love at some point? With all of her friends happily coupled up, she’s also getting […]

A Sprint to the Finish

Run by Ann Patchett

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On a snowy night, Bernard Doyle, the former mayor of Boston, drags his two adopted sons to a lecture by Jesse Jackson, Sr. Doyle is white and his sons, Tip and Teddy, are black, but Doyle is by far the most interested in Jackson’s lecture. Tip would much rather be back in the ichthyology  lab with his fish samples, and Teddy would rather be visiting his great-uncle John, a retired priest recently in the news for supposedly curing the sick. Outside the lecture hall, a […]

“How easy it is to leave things undone until they are too late.”

Sovereign: A Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery by C.J. Sansom

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In my love affair for both Historical Murder Mysteries and series whose books get progressively more brick-like the longer they go on, I tackled Sovereign, the third in the Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery series. And I don’t really regret that I did. Set this time in York during the great Progress Henry VIII took after the near civil war of 1541, York truly comes alive, with the Minster and St. Mary’s Church shown particular love. Sansom paints a pretty good picture of how as much […]



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