Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Grim But Well Written

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

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The Vegetarian is divided into three parts, told from the perspective of three different characters. The main character, Yeong-hye, does not have a voice, although she is the one around which everything revolves. The first section is from her husband’s POV, the second from her brother-in-law and eventually lover’s POV, and the last is from her sister’s POV. The book dives right in with Yeong-hye deciding to become a vegetarian after a graphic and disturbing dream. Her vegetarianism becomes extreme and causes her to become […]

Pucking Wrong about sums it up

The Pucking Wrong Man by C.R. Jane

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The Pucking Wrong Man is C.R. Jane’s fourth installment in her Pucking Wrong series, and it is all kinds of messed up as indicated by the title. Trigger Warnings of all kinds should be observed when it comes to this series, but especially this book. You may be asking yourself, “Katie, why are you reading this if you know it’s a walking trigger warning?” Which, completely justified. Let me share a brief synopsis and then we’ll get into the cringe-y stuff. Camden James is 31 and […]

Three short novels that lack for nothing

Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Short Novels by Katherine Anne Porter

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Cbr16bingo Horses  This collection of three novellas- “Old Mortality, “Noon Wine” and “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”- was originally published in 1939. Each story involves characters whose illusions — about themselves and/or their families — are eventually stripped away, forcing them to face hard realities. Some are not up to it while others find the strength to move onward.  “Old Mortality” is divided into three parts and focuses on the point of view of a girl named Miranda. She and her older sister Maria are part […]

Stephen Fry’s Favorite Ghost Stories

Stephen Fry's Favorite Ghost Stories by Various Authors

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I have very little to write about this book. These are all classic ghost stories, but that means they are very staid and slow, focusing on dread (if you can keep from laughing at the antiquated language (eg. it’s not scary when someone sees a ghost and gets so scared they “leave incontinently”)). The asides from Stephen Fry are interesting, and the narration is solid, but I do not really recommend this, it took me a very long time to finish.

Love and Grief on the Oregon Coast

Heartwaves by Anita Kelly

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Every Anita Kelly book I read is my new favorite, and this is the one currently holding the trophy. When we meet Mae, they have just spread their best friend’s ashes at the beach in a small Oregon town. Almost on a whim, she decides to move to this town—in part because she wants to be closer to Jesus (the friend, not the Lord), and in part because there’s a storefront for sale on Main Street. What better way to honor Jesus’s legacy than to […]

Decent spy thriller with an obvious twist

Our Woman in Moscow: A Novel by Beatriz Williams

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Cbr16bingo Detente between nations and between sisters This is a spy thriller set in WWII and the decade following, but it is built around the story of estranged twin sisters. Ruth, the outgoing striking blonde, and Iris, the quiet mousy artist, grew up in a well-to-do New York family that was brought low by the stock market crash. When their brother Harry gets a job in the US foreign service in Italy on the eve of WWII, the sisters go to live there. Ruth has […]



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