Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.

The Alchemist by Paul Coehlho

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CBR15 BINGO (On The Road square: Road trip of self-discovery from Spain to Egypt.) BINGO! | Politics to Bodies, Bodies Bodies This was a book we had around the house because my son read it in high school. I think maybe it was a summer reading assignment. He recommended that I read it and it fit the bill for the square, so here we go. A young shepherd in Spain sells his sheep and travels across land and sea in search of a treasure he has only seen in […]

All the single ladies

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes

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I knew of Linda Holmes from her debut novel, Evvie Drake Starts Over. I enjoyed it enough to eventually pick up her second novel, Flying Solo (2022). The story takes place in the same town of her first novel. Laurie Sassalyn grew up in the small town of Calcasset, Maine. She finds herself back there after her Great Aunt Dot passes away. Laurie is volunteered by her family to go through Aunt Dot’s things, so she moves into Dot’s house while she begins to organize everything. Laurie has […]

Different tune, same story

Battle of the Bands by Eric Smith and Lauren Gibaldi

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There’s a thing that happens when you totally crush out on someone. It’s like you can feel your heartbeat in every part of your body. There’s a euphoric kind of excitement mixed with sadness and terror. It’s hard to explain, but it happens in an instant and then just explodes and grows from there, consuming your every waking thought and sometimes your dreams. You can’t escape from it. It takes over and runs the controls that make you . . . you. Suddenly, you aren’t […]

Ctrl+Art+Replete

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

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Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is, at its heart, a story of friendship. Friendship is having a bit of a ‘moment’ right now in pop culture. I’ve read countless articles and stories lately focussed on friendship – in particular, the fallout  when it goes sour. Ghosting of friends, friendship fights, friendship betrayals, friendship breakups… It’s something of an epidemic at the moment and seems to be a real theme in my circles. Perhaps it’s just this phase of my life.. the 30s, when people are […]

such a delightfully odd book, definitely on my list of books to recommend in turn

Red Plenty by Francis Spufford

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Cannonball Passport: a recommendation from Chris, spasibo How to explain this book, which was exactly what was promised on the back cover and yet hard to fully explain? It is historical fiction, with some characters plucked from the annals of the USSR and others constructed—not from whole cloth, but from several scraps who did exist (or who probably did). It’s a different take on the Soviet Union, painted not with satire but not with nostalgia/wistfulness either? I wonder how much would resonate with someone from […]

Isn’t it pretty to think so?

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

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CBR15 BINGO: Sex, because people are having casual sex in this book, except for Jake because. . .ya know. It has been banned and challenged because of its focus on sex (in addition to general debauchery). BINGO: South America, Politics, Take Flight, In the Wild, Sex “You’re an expatriate, you’ve lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed by sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an […]



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