Cannonball Read 11

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CBRBingo – I LOVE THIS. Practically Delightful

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

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CBR Bingo – I LOVE THIS This is the first time I am participating in Cannonball Read Bingo and I am ALL IN BABY. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to swing a blackout by the end of October but my personal goal is to fill out the whole thing by the end of the year. Let’s do this thing! And what fun to review Alice Hoffman for my first Bingo pick! She has been one of my favorite authors since high school and I have been eagerly and nervously anticipating the prequel to the beloved Practical Magic. The […]

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7/8/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:25 |

Great premise but a bit underwhelming

Incantation by Alice Hoffman

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Incantation by Alice Hoffman is a work of historical fiction set during the Spanish Inquisition. Narrated by 16-year-old Estrella deMadrigal, this YA novel imagines how a family of good standing in small village gets swept up in the persecution of conversos, that is, Jews who had converted to Christianity but were later accused of secretly still practicing Judaism. Estrella will discover secrets about her family and have her eyes opened to the true nature of her neighbors and her best friend. The novel opens with a book burning on the plaza of the small village known as Encaliflora. Estrella can […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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3/27/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:15 |

Wonderful, Lyrical, Practical Magic

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

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I saw the movie Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman quite a few years ago. It’s one of those movies that I wanted to be better than it was — it seemed to have so much potential, but it just didn’t work, even with the wonderful Aidan Quinn as Bullock’s love interest. I have been in the mood lately, Halloween coming up I guess, to read some witch-related books, so even though I didn’t love the movie I had heard good things about the book by Alice Hoffman, so I thought I’d give it a try. I am […]

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10/1/2018 's CBR10 Review No:20 |

Fall in love whenever you can

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

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Bingo square: Cannonballer Says! Caitlin_D’s review is here. In the 1600s, Maria Owens fell in love with the wrong man. Left desolate and with child, her line was doomed by her curse – that those who fall in love with an Owens will be ruined. Siblings Franny, Jet and Vincent come of age in the 1960s, hardly aware of their heritage – that they come from a long line of witches. But they know they are different, and they thwart their mother’s rules: No walking in the moonlight, no candles, no red shoes…and on and on. When Franny turns 17 […]

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9/10/2018 's CBR10 Review No:32 |

“But rules were never the point. It was finding out who you were.”

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

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“Rules of Magic: Do as you will, but harm no one. What you give will be returned to you threefold. Fall in love whenever you can. I read Practical Magic earlier this year and was enamored by how much I liked the book despite its vast differences with the movie adaptation I’d grown up with. Hoffman published this prequel last year and it is a great stand alone novel and an adequate companion piece. My biggest complaint about prequels is authors trying to shoehorn the story they want to tell into a timeline they’ve already established. I have some small quibbles but […]

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7/17/2018 's CBR10 Review No:79 |

“There’s a little witch in all of us.”

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

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I loved Practical Magic as a kid and it was routinely watched in our household. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman! Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing! Magic! Romance! Dancing to “you put the lime in the coconut!” What is there not to like?! The novel the movie is based on, also called Practical Magic, is completely different than the movie. I think if I had read the novel first I would have been really upset about the movie adaptation but reading it after seeing the movie so many times I come to find myself liking the film and the book as two separate entities. “Always throw spilled […]

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5/24/2018 's CBR10 Review No:62 |

Alice is the same…maybe I’ve changed?

Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman

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I used to say that Alice Hoffman was one of my favorite authors. “Used to” as in have always, ever since I first fell in love with the book “Practical Magic,” which is SO much better than the movie, which is really damn good it its own right, but for the record, only covers about 1/3 of the content of the book. Initially in my late teens I read her books with a voracious appetite, and regularly recommend her to others.  There are elements of magical realism present, be it ghosts, or people with powers, or just mysterious elements that […]

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5/2/2018 's CBR10 Review No:18 |

Coney Island Love Story

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

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There are certain settings I think automatically lead to interesting stories worth exploring. Two of them are early 20th century New York and ‘freak shows.’ Alice Hoffman’s The Museum of Extraordinary Things takes both of these on. Museum is the story of Coralie, a talented swimmer playing mermaid in her father’s museum of unusual people, animals and artifacts, and Eddie, a Russian Jewish immigrant with a serious chip on his shoulder and a talent for photography. There are many things I disliked about this novel, so let’s start with what I do think worked. The overall story is compelling, or […]

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10/12/2017 's CBR9 Review No:24 |


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