Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Novel About Race, Identity, and Satire

Erasure by Percival Everett

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I learned about this novel when the movie American Fiction came out (which I’m hoping to see this weekend). It’s striking and sad how relevant this 23-year-old book still is when it comes to race and racial stereotypes. Percival Everett provides a sharp critique of race. It’s biting and funny and depressing and tragic. Told through journal entries, it follows Thelonious (Monk) Ellison during a time when he is facing dramatic changes in his family and has chosen to write a book intended to be […]

Not for me.

Secret Identity by Alex Segura

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 2/30 DNF @ 30% I gave it the ole college try, as none of the kids say these days. But this book was not for me! I’m really sad about it, because the gritty 70s NYC atmosphere, the love of comics built in to it, and the MC being a queer daughter of Cuban immigrants trying to make it in comics publishing all really sounded like something I would love, but this book was so dull. What […]

“Happiness is a garden walled with glass: there’s no way in or out. In Paradise there are no stories, because there are no journeys. It’s loss and regret and misery and yearning that drive the story forward, along its twisted road.”

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

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In another time or another headspace, I might have given this five stars. If I ever re-read, I probably will. Unfortunately, my brain was just not in the mood for a long, measured, thoughtful, historical literary fiction novel when I read this back in April (!). I should probably have done the audiobook instead. (Anyone know if it’s any good? I’ve never heard of the narrator before.) *Have I EVER been in the mood for a Margaret Atwood? 🤔 I somehow managed to read The […]

A meta murder mystery about writing murder mysteries.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

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I had a really good time with this book. I am honestly pleased with most mysteries that I read because something about the genre makes me inherently happy, but I am always very excited when I find one that goes above and beyond the expectations of the genre, and plays around a little. This one definitely did that. It was like brain candy for me. A little treat. The book is split into two parts, the first being a rough draft of a murder mystery […]

A cozy mystery with cute dogs and a bookstore.

The Plot is Murder (Mystery Bookshop #1) by V.M. Burns

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CBR Bingo Square: Cozy I love cozy mysteries anyway I can get ’em. I love to delve into book series as much as I like to marathon Hallmark Murder Mysteries. I grew up on Murder, She Wrote. I still ask my mom what episode she is watching if we’re talking on the phone while she watches. And even better, I get to learn about fun shows at work when we promote Acorn TV. The Plot Is Murder by V.M. Burns kicks off her Mystery Bookshop […]

Hooray for the Book Exchange, and hooray for narfna!

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

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This was a lovely treat from narfna, courtesy of the 2020 Book Exchange. I loved the clever telling of the story-within-a-story, and I almost wanted to know the end of the ‘fictional’ story more than I did the ‘real’ one. Susan Ryeland is an editor. Her company publishes the Atticus Pund series, wildly successful detective books with a Poirot/Gamache-style main character. She introduces herself at the beginning, saying the ninth book in the series would change her life. Then you get to read the manuscript […]



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