Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Dark Corners of the Past

Great Scandals of the Victorians by Debbie Blake

Public Faces, Secret Lives by Wendy L. Rouse

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Great Scandals of the Victorians: Disreputable Stories from the Royal Court to the Stage – 3.5 stars For all that Victorians had a reputation for being straitlaced, they had their fair share of scandals – and some of them ended up having major effects on contemporary society, sometimes even driving forth social changes which still affect us today. I love a good gossip session about people I’ve never met, which is why history is one of my favorite subjects. In this book, we learn about […]

A pretty disappointing anthology, to be honest.

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror by ed. Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams

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While there were a handful of really good stories in here, overall I was disappointed with this collection. Way too many confusing or unsatisfying endings. (This was edited by Jordan Peele, but also by John Joseph Adams, whose anthologies in the past I have not really liked, either, and I wish I would have known he was involved before I read it. Would have had more accurate expectations.) “Reckless Eyeballing,” N.K. Jemisin — Okayyyy, but what does it meaaaan. 4/5 stars “Eye & Tooth,” Rebecca Roanhorse — The […]

Let Me Drift Away…

The Child and the River by Henri Bosco

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Bosco, a French/Italian writer, was nominated for the Nobel Prize four times.  He wrote this novella in 1945 in Morocco, shortly before his return to France.  It is beautifully written, a pastorale so to speak, with definite undertones of Huckleberry Finn.  Pascalet, a young boy, runs away from his caretaker to the forbidden river, upon which he finds an old weathered boat.  Only meaning to rest in it, he finds himself adrift, and then after a brief but frightening squall, ends up becoming grounded on […]

Summer of 1999

Home is Where The Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose (Author), January LaVoy (Narrator), Cassandra Campbell (Narrator), Brittany Pressley (Narrator), Andrew Eiden (Narrator)

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We sometimes (sort of jokingly but also sort of not) say in my immediate family that we only get together with the extended family when there is a wedding or when there is a funeral.  Big life events bring people together, and it is the passing of their mother (Laura) that brings the siblings in this novel back into each other’s orbits.  And once they are back in each other’s lives, old tensions start to rise, exacerbated by the little fact that, oh yeah, their […]

“We are but fevered stars. Here a little while, bright with promise, before we burn away.”

Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse

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I’ve been struggling with review writing lately and decided to give the 5 Ws way a shot because this book/series is too good to not share. What:  Fevered Star, is the second book in Rebecca Roanhorse’s  Between Earth and Sky series.  The first is Black Sun, which I thoroughly enjoyed!  It is an epic fantasy tale where Gods seek to regain power in the mortal realm and human power players seek to reshape control of the land and seas. Who:  Naranpa, Sun Priest, who has now become […]

Holiday Reads Part Deux, because I apparently read better in a tent

Craven Manor by Darcy Coates

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carré

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Craven Manor (Darcy Coates) *** Daniel is down on his luck. He’s a decent guy (this is made abundantly clear) but the only thing keeping him from homelessness is his slob of a cousin. One day, a letter is pushed underneath the door of Daniel’s apartment, mysteriously offering him a job on a mysterious manor that Daniel has never seen even though he grew up in the town. With great trepidation, he makes his way over to Craven Manor, an abandoned home in the middle […]



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