Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Children’s books were different in the 70s

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

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CBR18 BINGO: Joker, because Mr. Fox is a bit of a joker I was looking for a short diversion recently, and while skimming our collection of Roald Dahl, I realized I had never read Fantastic Mr. Fox, though I have seen the delightful stop-motion animated film by Wes Anderson. I know enough about Dahl to realize this could be a wild ride, so I was curious. The plot is simple: Mr. Fox (who is very dapper!) lives with his wife and 4 children. Every night […]

No one knows what goes on behind closed doors

Men Like Ours: A Novel by Bindu Bansinath

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Cbr18bingo Wealth The story opens with Matthew, a wealthy man, found dead in his car I picked up Men Like Ours at our local library, drawn in by its cover which reminded me of Parini Shroff’s The Bandit Queens. It turns out the two novels are a bit alike. Each features Indian women living in a small-ish communities with similar complaints: financial woes, bad marriages, worries about children, and thwarted dreams. Men Like Ours, however, is set in New Jersey amongst the women of Willow […]

Goddamn magicians and cats! (Cat photos included)

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

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CBR18 BINGO: Refuge, because Agnes runs a private cat shelter, which is the best kind of refuge Whoever designed the cover of Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter deserves a medal. I’m not entirely sure what the crossover is between fantasy lovers and cat lovers, but it must be substantial, and I don’t see how anyone who falls in that space could look at that cover and not pick it up. All those cats, doing cat things, sitting in nooks, stretching, sleeping–it’s irresistible! I’m happy to […]

Don’t let the cute little kid fool you. This is a bloody tale of vengeance.

Lone Wolf & Cub Deluxe Edition Volume 1 by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima

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Cbr18bingo Right – It’s manga, so you read it right to left I heard about Lone Wolf & Cub a few years ago but had been unable to find a copy of it until recently. Last year, Dark Horse published a deluxe edition of this manga classic, which was first published in Japan starting in 1970. Kazuo Koike’s original story has been translated by Dana Lewis. In addition to Goseki Kojima’s masterful and dynamic ink drawings, this deluxe edition includes a few of his color […]

A novel of rebellions, large and small

The House of Doors: A Novel by Tan Twan Eng

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Cbr18bingo Justice: a murder trial is a key part of the story The House of Doors is a work of fiction that includes real people and a real murder trial that occurred in Kuala Lumpur in 1911. The murder trial of Edith Proudlock became the subject of a W. Somerset Maugham story, The Letter, which later became a play and film. In this novel, author Tan Twan Eng imagines how Maugham came to write that story. Set in Penang, Malaysia, it is a story of […]

“The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.”

Demon Copperhead: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver

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Cbr18bingo Repair: novel deals with drug addiction and rehab, broken individuals and a broken community I had a hard time choosing which bingo square to use for this one, so many could apply. Left — because so many characters and their community have been left behind. Refuge — characters take refuge in drug use to deal with physical and other pains. Or —main character ultimately has to make a major either/or decision about his life. Demon Copperhead is Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize winning re-imagination of Dickens’ […]



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