Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

XOXO Tiffin Academy

The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham

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Spending a year at a prestigious New England boarding school would have been the dream of little high school me. Teaching for a year at a prestigious New England boarding school probably sounds a little bit more like a nightmare. It’s move-in day at Tiffin Academy. As the students return it is also the same day that school rankings are published. Amazingly Tiffin has made a seventeen spot jump to number two in the country. Take that Phillips Exeter! Just as everyone begins getting comfortable […]

Go Fish (Yes, this is a Buffy reference)

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

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The novel begins as Sade starts private boarding school in England. Early on, we understand there are things about her past that Sade is hiding. She is haunted by the ghost of a dead girl in her past, her mother committed suicide when she was 10, and her father was strict, keeping her locked up and homeschooled. The only reason she is at school now is because he died so she is making her own decisions. After meeting her roommate Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s friend Baz, […]

Another win from this author!

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Abíké Íyímídé

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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the content of my review. Don’t go in expecting another thriller like Ace of Spades and you’ll be fine. This is more of a straight mystery than Íyímídé’s debut; it is slower paced and there is both more passing of actual time in the story, and time spent with characters just talking to each other. In a way, it’s a lot more atmospheric than Ace of Spades. It sort of traded in the […]

“…we never stopped longing for time to pass, to release us back into our families – or what remained of them.”

Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life by Rose Tremain

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This is a very good but very sad memoir about Rose Tremain’s emotionally neglectful childhood growing up in post-war England. After her mother and father get divorced, she is sent off at age ten to a boarding school, compounding the neglect she had already faced. Her mother Jane also went through a traumatic abandonment at boarding school and seems to have been incapable of connecting to Tremain and her siblings. Jane is focused on only her own pleasure, as she gets remarried to a wealthy […]

Two Well-Regarded Children’s Time Travel Novels

Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce

Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer

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I was surprised when I visited England at what a popular genre historical children’s time travel novels were, but it’s one I enjoy so I got a couple. Both are apparently much beloved classics that must have missed me when I was a child, and this was a good chance to fill in some gaps of my children’s novel knowledge. Tom’s Midnight Garden has an intimidatingly positive pull quote by Philip Pullman on the cover: “a perfect book.” This made me internally querulous and I […]

July 2022 Leftovers

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipies from Tha Boss Dogg's Kitchen by Snoop Dogg

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

Plunder of the Sun by David Dodge

Stunt: A Mythical Reimagining of Nellie Jackson, Madame of Natchez by Saida Agostini

The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, A Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation by Rich Cohen

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Defender of the Innocent: The Casebook Files of Martin Ehrengraf by Lawrence Block

Voluntary Madness by Vicki Hendricks

Two Gentlemen of Lebowski: A Most Excellent Comedie and Tragic Romance by Adam Bertocci

The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel García Márquez

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord

Slonim Woods 9: A Memoir by Daniel Barban Levin

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

My Summer Darlings by May Cobb

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa

Firestarter by Stephen King

The Editor by Steven Rowley

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins

Lucky by Jackie Collins

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Here are reviews for the books I read in July that I didn’t have time or energy to do a full review on. Note: I was out of work in July so I read a lot. The Woman in Cabin 10 *** Read this while on a cruise ship and it definitely gave me some interesting feelings! A relatively entertaining thriller. I’d read another Ruth Ware book but wouldn’t rush out to do so From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipes From Tha Boss Dogg’s Kitchen**** […]



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