Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I felt I was becoming scientifically interesting.”

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

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Heart of Darkness was not required reading in any of my English classes and frankly, seemed like a huge bummer, so I never got around to it. But my husband was a big fan, so 17 years later, here I am, catching up. It was not what I expected. Plot: Charles Marlow is looking to make a name for himself as an explorer uncovering new lands, and so, this being the colonial period, he secures an assignment for himself in Africa. He is warned by […]

Now I Know What Prison Mike Was Talking About

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

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Their third year at Hogwarts is no less eventful for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with many changes. There is yet another new teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts, as the kind but sickly Professor Lupin joins the faculty. Also joining the teaching staff is none other than gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid, commissioned to instruct the students in the Care of Magical Creatures. The only black cloud hanging over the new school year is the recent escape of Sirius Black from the titular Azkaban prison, long […]

Oh where, oh where can my baby be?

Christine by Stephen King

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It is absolutely mind-boggling, looking at Stephen King’s bibliography. Carrie (1974) Salem’s Lot (1975) The Shining (1977) Rage (1977) The Stand (1978) The Long Walk (1979) The Dead Zone (1979) Firestarter (1980) Danse Macabre (1981) Roadwork (1981) Cujo (1981) The Running Man (1982) Different Seasons (1982) The Gunslinger (1982) Christine (1983) Pet Semetary (1983) Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) 9 years. 14 novels. A nonfiction book and a collection of novellas. Almost every single one a hit, some of them are even classics. And he […]

Jolene doesn’t have red hair, okay?

The Home-wrecker by Sara Cate

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Sara Cate continues to be one of my favorite romance authors. Her new novel, The Home-wrecker, is the second installment in a series about the Goode family, a family recovering from the toxic Christianity of its fallen-from-grace patriarch who happens to have been a megachurch pastor before being brought up on attempted murder charges. Wow, that sentence is a mouthful, especially since he’s a secondary character.  Caleb is a successful defense attorney who is married to Briar, his college sweetheart. Like many couples, they are […]

March/April Manga Review Grab Bag

Our Torsos Align by Ryo Sumiyoshi

The Blue Wolves of Mibu (Vol 1) by Tsuyoshi Yasuda

March Comes In Like a Lion (Vol 1-2) by Chica Umino

Sketchy (Vol 1) by Makihirochi

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Here’s a fun review grab bag of manga that I read in the last week or so. I have been trying to think about cutting down my collecting, but then I ended up in Kinokuniya, so…we can all guess what happened (three more volumes of manga for the double stacked shelves). Sketchy is by the same author as Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live?, which I’ve reviewed here previously and really wish would be put out in print editions instead of digital only. As […]

An Adulterous Fiction in King Henry’s Court

The Tudors in Love: Passion and Politics in the Age of England's Most Famous Dynasty by Sarah Gristwood

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The various romantic travails of the Tudor dynasty have been well-covered in dramatic novels and shows in the centuries since they lived and died, but they too may have been influenced by earlier literature and tradition, specifically the idea of courtly love. In a market flooded with books concerning Tudor marriages, it’s hard for new releases to stand above the crowd. The Tudors in Love tries to carve its niche with the theme of courtly love, that fashionable alleged holdover from Arthurian times, and how […]



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