Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

How can a novel about dementia be beautiful?

The Swimmers: A Novel by Julie Otsuka

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Cbr15bingo Adulthood I have reviewed Julie Otsuka’s previous two novels and loved them both. Otsuka is an amazingly talented writer. Her novels are not long; her sentences tend to be short but deliver beautiful imagery and subtle emotion. They are, as I have mentioned previously, like a pointillist painting in verbal form. Both When the Emperor Was Divine and The Buddha in the Attic, critically acclaimed winners of numerous awards, deal with Otsuka’s family history: immigration from Japan to California and the experience of US […]

More Lady Killers, Please

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

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I am so excited about this book, y’all. I’ve been gushing about it in all my book-related chats since I started listening to it. I set it aside yesterday with about 80% finished because I wanted it to last just a little bit longer. It has been an exciting and fun escape during the awful end of summer break. A team of female assassins are set to retire and to celebrate, their employers “The Museum” have sent them on a fancy shmancy cruise. While sitting […]

OMG I love these old crime fighters

The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1) by Richard Osman

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So, this is another Audible book that my sister bought that I get to enjoy. Thankfully she bought all three, so I get to listen to them all! This is book one. The premise of this this book was totally new and refreshing to me. The closest parallel I can make is to the Netflix show “Only Murders in the Building.” It’s kind of a loose parallel though. Anyway, we get pulled in immediately as Elizabeth, an octogenarian asks her friend Joyce, a former nurse […]

Predictable, but in the best way

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

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“Explain to me again,” said Oliver finally, “why you need a boyfriend?” It was the least I owed him. “Mainly for this big fundraiser we’ve got coming up at the end of April. Our donors all think I’m a bad gay.” He frowned. “What’s a good gay?” “Someone like you.” “I see.” ― Alexis Hall, Boyfriend Material “You” – I gave a thwarted sigh – “are a terrible fake boyfriend.” “I’m building fake anticipation.” “You’d better be fake worth it.” “I am.” ― Alexis Hall, […]

“What would happen if I were to leave? No one notices the air they breathe.”

The Air You Breathe: A Novel by Frances De Pontes Peebles

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Cbr15bingo South America  Bingo! When I was looking around for a book to fill the South America square on my bingo card, I came across Frances De Pontes Peebles’ The Air You Breathe. NPR’s reviewer compared it to Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend series and said that they tore through this novel in 2 nights. It is similar in some ways to Ferrante’s work, and I likewise finished it within days. The Air You Breathe is a soap opera of a story about friendship and […]

Why is it always the innocents who suffer most?

Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder by Jerry Bledsoe

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CBR 15 Bingo – Edibles: Fritz, Susie and her sons are on mind-boggling amounts of vitamin pills, which they are observed taking by the handful to the bemusement and horror of their friends and family. No one can think of a reason why anyone would kill Delores and Janie Lynch in such a cold-blooded manner. But when their in-laws are murdered barely a year later, the police suspect that the motive for the deaths might be found among the ranks of the family. Bitter Blood is one […]



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