Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Billionaire reform starts with a good book

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

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The Uncommon Reader is a little hard to classify — I guess it’s alternate history? — but the premise is essentially that Elizabeth II happens upon a bookmobile, starts reading a lot, and Is Changed. This is a book for book lovers, and specifically, for deepish Anglo-biased “classic” catalog readers (George Eliot, Nancy Mitford, EM Forster … but also some non-Anglo authors e.g. Vikram Seth, Tolstoy). Like, if you read Ready Player One and your reaction was “this is not for me, this is for […]

“I think it’s when two people separate that the things they’ve learned through their friendship can really blossom.”

Hooked: A Novel of Obsession by Asako Yuzuki

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Cbr18bingo Friends I reviewed Asako Yuzuki’s novel Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder a few months ago and was very much struck by her portrayal of Japanese society — the sexism, the fat shaming, the anti-feminist sentiment — as well as by her riveting story-telling and characters. Hooked: A Novel of Obsession is even better, in my opinion. This is a novel about relationships amongst women, the difficulties of making friendships once you’ve moved beyond school, and the impact that patriarchy and sexism have […]

How far would you go to change history?

11/22/63 by Stephen King

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CBR18 BINGO: Repair, because the main character goes back in time to try to repair the damage caused by JFK’s assassination I had a high-school English teacher who mused that she didn’t think Stephen King would ever be counted among the “classics” because the sheer volume of his output inevitably led to some substandard attempts. Plus, there was the whole tie in with movie deals that undermined his legitimacy (this was back in the ’80s, when it wasn’t necessarily a given that a popular book […]

bingo means time to hit the backlog…

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

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CBR Bingo: One, for Austen’s first book! Whilst watching the superlatively wonderful Emma Thompson/Ang Lee Sense and Sensibility on a very successful (if I say so myself) Book Group On Tour weekend in Bristol, it occured to me that I’d never read the actual novel on which it was based. Looking to rectify this, I procured this copy at a local bookstore and then proceeded to gnash my teeth over it for what feels like AGES but probably was only a week or so? This was Austen’s […]

More Adventures with the Kids Who Had the Best Childhood Ever.

Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome

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cbr18bingo Birds Another from the Sparrows and Amazons series and it’s just what the doctor ordered.  Like sinking into a cozy armchair with a steaming cup of tea at your side.  So this time the crew is set off on holidays to explore High Topps, a large mountain not far from their lakeside homes.  Rumor has it that there is gold in them there hills, and they are aiming to produce a sample before Uncle Jim returns to his houseboat.  This will involve much camping […]

This Guy Doesn’t Want to Rule the World, But He Will

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

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This book fills the CBR18 Bingo square “versus,” in the sense of “person versus society.” Or, in this case, “half-goblin versus society of pure-blood elves.” Maia is the half-goblin in question. He’s in line for the imperial throne, but VERY far down. Like, so far down, the emperor has him living way out in the middle of nowhere. So far down that the only way Maia could possibly become emperor is if the entire lineage were to die in an airship crash, which, pffbt, never […]



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