Cannonball Read 14

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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I Have Seen the Nipple on Your Soul

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

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You know those workdays where you get a lot done in the morning, and you think to yourself, “I’ve done enough, I think I can take it easy this afternoon”? Well, consider that my attitude for the rest of 2022, as my greatest achievement of the year is behind me: I finished this damn book. I’ve wanted to read Haruki Murakami for a long time, and I was so intrigued by the premise of this book: A woman, Aomame, begins to discover subtle differences between […]

When Darkness Yawns

When Darkness Comes by Alexandra Ivy

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It’s been a stressful few weeks (months?) and I’ve been trying to escape into audiobooks. This time there was no escape. It was a slog. Why did I finish it? I’m not really sure. Probably I didn’t feel like looking for something else to listen to. This is a garbage-y vampire novel and lives up to all its stereotypes. There’s a woman, small and so beautiful it hurts. There’s a vampire, manly and muscly and so beautiful it hurts. There’s a curse, a spirit of […]

A Wicked Mess (or Harlan Coben, I apologize!)

A Wicked Snow by Gregg Olsen

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A couple months ago I read the latest Harlan Coben standalone and though I enjoyed it, I felt like Coben was phoning it in and that his suspense novels had started to blur in my head. Then, I read this novel, plucked off the e-shelf at my local library, and I want to issue an apology. I’m not sure I fully appreciated the skill with which Coben constructs his narratives until I read this schlocky mess. I almost stopped halfway through this book, because it […]

Secrets Are Bad,Yo

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

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Well, Liane Moriarty finally burned me. Of the three books that I’ve read by her, this one had me saying, “No, no human being would make those decisions!” And then I’d growl at my screen and worry my husband who was trying to sleep because I just wasn’t happy that I was stuck reading this book.  There’s very little that can actually be said about the book’s plot that wouldn’t give it all away so I’ll be vague. A woman finds out that her husband […]

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The Technologists by Matthew Pearl

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I’ve read a few other Matthew Pearl books before. They’re decent historical mysteries, for what they are. Pearl’s writing is fine, for what it is. But then there comes a point where one has to say “enough.” I pretty much always read every book to the end, no matter how bad it is. Not this time. Observe: Hammie’s jet-black hair was parted smartly, impervious to the breeze, but his bulbous forehead and gourdlike chin, inexpertly shaved, overshadowed his otherwise bland facial features, which seemed to have […]



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