Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Life in Africa, But Probably Not at All What You Are Thinking Of

A Girl Is a Body of Water by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

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There was something about the writing of this account of growing up female in 1970s – 80s Uganda that struck me as different but I couldn’t quite place it.  And then I read an interview with the author wherein she explained that as an African writer writing in English, you have a choice.  Are you writing for an English-speaking audience, for whom explanations may be needed, or are you writing for your people?  Makumbi chose the latter, and the book becomes all the much richer […]

Siblings to die for

The Blood Between Us by Z Brewer

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Had I been myself as a teenager (and I was) this book would have been a huge hit. The Blood Between Us is a thriller filled with distrust, explosions, and family secrets. Until you get to the end. And this was when my adult-self kicked in and the teenager who forgave a lot to just enjoy the story, came into play. The buildup was strong, but slow. All evidence points to an obvious ending (but honestly would be a satisfying one). That is, until the […]

If you found a long-lost hidden diary, how long would it take you to devour the entire thing?

Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

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If you found a long-lost private diary written by a woman who died under mysterious circumstances, would you read it? What if that woman was one of the founders of the school where you are currently employed? What if you are living in that woman’s former home? What if you are writing your thesis on this woman and her work? What if, less than two pages into the diary- webs of secrets start to untangle? OF COURSE you would read it. Our narrator, Meg Rosenthal […]

Just another New York boarding school. In the woods. Helps to be an artistic Wiccan.

Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

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The northeast corner of the United States has always had a penchant for artists’ colonies, for at least the last couple hundred years.  One of the most notable was one established by Bronson Alcott (Louise May’s father), which lasted until Mrs. Alcott, tired of putting in yeoman’s hours of cleaning and cooking duty whilst her husband and his friends frolicked in the nude through the meadows, put her foot down at last, and packed them all back to Boston. Arcadia Falls also features a boarding […]

Remind me that once I was free, once I was cool, once I was me

The Secret Place by Tana French

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This year I decided to go back to some of the series I started but never finished and give them one more try. Series: Dublin Murder Squad. I last read this series in 2013. What I remember about the series prior to this book: I remember being disappointed that the protagonists of In the Woods and The Likeness were absent from the following books. I remember disliking the loose ends in In the Woods and thinking that the setup for The Likeness was beyond ludicrous. […]

The reviews I forgot to post, part 1!

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

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Somehow I ended up reading three dystopian novels in a row. Maybe not the best choice during an actual pandemic.  Wilder Girls is set in an all-girls boarding school on an isolated island off the coast of Maine.  About a year and a half before the novel starts, something… happened.  A sort of disease that was probably already present on the island suddenly made an evolutionary jump from two species (an iris and a crab) to everything else, including people.  The disease, which they call […]



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