Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Settle Yourselves Down for a STORY.

The Knight of Maison-Rouge by Alexandre Dumas

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cbr17bingo Citizen How many times has The Three Musketeers been filmed?  Dumas knew how to tell a tale, even though he could be fairly verbose, at times.  But hey. when you get paid by volume, that makes sense. The Knight of Maison Rouge, the character named in the title, is a champion of Marie Antoinette, in that murky period in French history between the execution of her husband, Louis XVI, and her own.  The government consisted of various battling contingents of “citizens” each trying to […]

It appears that 19th century soap opera adventure stories are my thing!

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

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Reviewer Note: In 2024, I started to read the free version of The Count of Monte Cristo that is available from Project Gutenberg (my go-to resource for novels in the public domain). After reading 200 pages, I couldn’t understand why I was so bored. This novel has more action than a Die Hard movie, yet I was struggling to stay interested. I decided to do some research into what’s considered the best translation of this novel, and I found recommendations for the edition translated by Robin […]

A (very long) classic adventure

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

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Reading this book has been quite the project. My in-laws gave me a paperback copy of The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) by Alexandre Dumas for Christmas. I’d asked for it because I’d seen The Count of Monte Cristo on some book list or other, and it was the only one I hadn’t read. When I decided it would be a fun classic to read, I didn’t realize it was over 1,200 pages, but I was committed. The basic story is that Edmond Dantes is a young, optimistic, up-and-coming […]

“Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures.”

The Three Musketeers (The d'Artagnan Romances, #1) by Alexandre Dumas

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Nobody told me this book would be funny! Well, in case you didn’t know it, this book is funny! I did know it would be ridiculously long, but I did the audiobook, and Bill Homewood was a very fun narrator, and it didn’t feel as long as it could have. For some reason, I’ve always thought this book would be boring, but it’s a swashbuckling adventure Romance, so in hindsight that was a weird opinion to have. Maybe because the cover looks boring, or I’m […]

“Fool that I am,” said he, “that I did not tear out my heart the day I resolved to revenge myself.”

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Hi, remember when our book club discussion for this book was December 1st but I didn’t finish the book until January 23rd? And also how I’ve been reading it since November 13th? Because I do. I definitely remember all of that. Ultimately, I’m really glad I did the audio version of this book. I don’t think I could have finished it otherwise. I previously got about 1/3 of the way through this book when I tried reading it in high school, but it defeated me then. The beginning 20% or […]

If Shakespeare, Dickens, and Christie Co-Wrote a Book

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One of my students just read The Count of Monte Cristo last year and has been on my case about reading it.  I couldn’t help chuckling when the Cannonball Book Club decided to read it.  It’s like karma’s trying to tell me something!  While I knew that this was going to be a long read, I was looking forward to it.  I’ve seen Wishbone’s and Jim Caviezel’s versions of The Count so I knew the basic plot of the novel.  I didn’t know how the […]



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