Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


stories about WOMEN by WOMEN for WOMEN…have I said WOMEN enough yet?

This Telling by Cheryl Strayed

Graceful Burdens by Roxane Gay

Sweet Virginia by Caroline Kepnes

The Contractors by Lisa Ko

Halfway to Free by Emma Donogue

Bear Witness by Mary Gaitskill

Shine, Pamela! Shine! by Kate Atkinson

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I’ve been sitting on this collection for a bit, as I am struggling with articulating how I feel about the group as a whole. Each story can be (and will be) handled individually, but there is something about the overarching themes of the entire collection that has left me at a loss. This is another collection from Amazon; it was free on Kindle Unlimited, I enjoyed their last collection, and I really love Kate Atkinson. Also- I was intrigued by the title: Out of Line- Women […]

I brung Pedro home for Thanksgiving break and tomorrow I have to bring him back to school.

Providence by Caroline Kepnes

Flight from the Enchanter by Iris Murdoch

High Crime Area by Joyce Carol Oates

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Real Sherlock by Lucinda Hawksley

Agent 355 by Marie Benedict

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Providence: 2/5 Stars The newer novel by Caroline Kepnes of YOU fame. It’s…well, it’s not great. There’s so many of the same pieces that made You a good, if goofily rehashed novel, are there, but serving this story they just don’t work as well. The plot here is that a young boy is kidnapped by a former substitute teacher. While he’s missing his best friend grows into her adolescence and loses touch with that connection, but she’s haunted by images of his eyes, his presence, […]

I buy violets for Amy.

Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

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The sequel to You and continues much of the good work from the first book, as well continuing some of the silliness. While the first book felt like a funny takedown of East Coast Ivy League elites, this one takes on Hollywood. This would mostly be ok and work, but it can’t quite tell if it wants to say something or tell a story at various turns. So I spent a lot of time thinking about what this book is. It’s got some Boogie Nights wrapped […]

You don’t wear a wedding ring and I go on.

You by Caroline Kepnes

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I think this book is really successful (not supremely — despite what the cover tells you, it’s not Gone Girl but more so than I would have suspected). But what this really means is that the audiobook is really successful. The narration of Santino Fontana really works here because instead of the deadpan of the show (mimicking Dexter) we get more life. Joe, we realize, is not a sociopath unable to feel anything or even a psychopath unable to empathize whatsoever with his victims. Instead, he is […]

Damn.

You by Caroline Kepnes

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I don’t know how to rate this book because surprised Pikachu face isn’t a star value.  I think I liked it in that it’s really well written, but damn if it isn’t scary as hell to read as a woman. Especially because Kepnes makes Joe, the narrator, too believably charming. It’s so much easier to think of predators as someone you’d cross the street to avoid, but the creep who’s only a creep once you get to know him has got to be a lot […]

“It is my destiny to know people who abuse punctuation.” Same, Joe. Same.

Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

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A few weeks ago, I reviewed the utterly bizarre You, by Caroline Kepnes. I wasn’t quite sure about the story, but I adored the narration of the audiobook (BEST GREG 4EVA), and immediately wanted MORE. So, here I am, doubly confused after having listened to Hidden Bodies, the sequel to You. Joe is terrible, and I kind of love him a little bit. For the first part of the book, Joe and his new girlfriend, Amy (who he started dating in You, after murdering Beck […]



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