Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Consider my Pot, Boiled

A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark

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It started with John Constantine, grouchy creepy detective magician, solving petty punk mysteries and sassing demons.  I love a good pot boiler, but I like them with wizards, or gods, or most preferably ghosts.  My collection is an embarrassment of sassy magicians solving ghost crimes. An anonymous Twitter surfaced in my feed one day to recommend the short story A Dead Djinn in Cairo. Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities must investigate the potential suicide of powerful djinn and oh my god five pages in I already knew I was going to buy […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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5/21/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:2 |

Horrifying and sadly not surprising

Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Write & Bradley Hope

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It boggles my mind that people can get away with swindling banks and governments and other institutions to essentially steal millions of dollars. It boggles my mind that our president seems to be one of those people. But this book focuses in on Malaysia and a low life high profile scammer named Jho Low. This book is basically the dark mirror flip version of Crazy Rich Asians. Instead of feeling awed and entertained, prepare to feel queasy and disgusted if you pick this book up. Low attended prestigious schools in London and the United States while growing up, rubbing elbows […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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5/19/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:38 |

Psycho Killer, Qu’est-ce que c’est?

In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes

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Dorothy B. Hughes was a popular crime writer of the 1940s and 1950s, perhaps the best female crime writer of her day and, based on the prose and psychological complexity on display in this slim volume, very much the equal of her better-known male peers. A very perceptive afterword written by the mystery novelist Megan Abbot does a better job elucidating the feminist aspects of the book than I could hope to, so let me just say that In A Lonely Place is a necessary corrective to any reader who thinks of noir as a boys’ club. Hughes’s novel centers […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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4/24/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:10 |

A Quick Little Walk on the Dark Side

The Best American Mystery Stories 2018 by Louise Penny (editor)

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I’m going to say that while I did like this collection, I don’t necessarily know that I personally would have called all the included stories “mystery” stories. A lot of them fell into more of a ‘suspense’ or general ‘crime’ genres rather than a true mystery story. That didn’t bother me most of the time, but it was enough of a thing that I wanted to get it out there for anyone who may want to check this one out. As with most short story collections, there are some great stories and some that didn’t work as well for me. […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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4/19/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:11 |

Zombie

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

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When Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries died, some people said “Dreams” or “Linger” was the band’s best song. But for many people, myself include, it was “Zombie”, the song about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It isn’t that the U2 songs about it are bad – “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” is powerful – but “Zombie” is so rare that powerful doesn’t even begin to describe it. It is the sense of horrible lose and pain. And you can’t help but think of that song why reading Keefe’s account of the Troubles. Keefe primarily focuses on the family of Jean McConville, a […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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3/21/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:47 |

California Dreamin’

Now and On Earth by Jim Thompson

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If they accumulate a catalog of work large enough, every author/artist will have what are considered to be “lesser works.” And while occasionally, there’s a hidden gem buried in there or something that appeals specifically to the client, they’re called “lesser works” for a reason. I know a lot about Jim Thompson’s life and works but I didn’t know that Now And On Earth is 1. a semi-autobiography and 2. his very first book. It shows. We have an author with talent who doesn’t quite know what to do with it so he retells his family story in fictional form (Thompson did […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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3/18/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:30 |

Requiem for the Aughts

Cherry by Nico Walker

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I have a feeling this is one of those books that will fall strictly in the love/hate divide. With major caveats, I’m in the former. I’m the same age as the lead character. Born in the 80s, bored in the 90s, bombed in the 00s. 9/11. The recession. And though I’ve never done drugs or served in the military, I could relate to this story. Because this is the story of too many people I know. People whose lives were used and abused overseas. People who turned to drug use stateside because their lives are static. As the main character […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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3/13/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:28 |

Folies á Deux

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

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Happy Women’s History Month! John Carryrou’s Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup taught me a new phrase – folies á deux – a shared psychosis by two people in close proximity. Elizabeth Holmes and her (secret) boyfriend,  Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, ran the company she founded like their own fiefdom. They enforced Elizabeth’s version of reality, kept information siloed, and silenced anyone who questioned or criticized them. I do not know if Elizabeth Holmes started out with good intentions and then was derailed by her own ego and delusions, or if she set out to make a lot of […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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3/9/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:13 |


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