Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Heavy on Quirkiness, Light on Depth

Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer

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CBR18 BINGO: Wheels I have been wanting to try Andrew Sean Greer, and this really piqued my interest when it came out. Plus it has such a charming cover. Alas, it did not meet my hopes or expectations. The narrator is semi-nameless. He is called Giovedì by his employer, but that’s not his real name. He was hired just out of college to travel to Italy and archive the contents of Villa Coco, owned by the Baronessa Lisabetta (AKA Coco). While there, he hopes to […]

Putin Hates It

Pioneer Summer by Elena Malisova, Katerina Silvanova, and Anne O. Fisher

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DNF I was very excited to read this book after spotting it on the NEW table in a local bookstore. With the tagline, “Putin hates it,” how could I not be interested? Released as fan fiction and then formally published in Russia in 2021, this book became a sensation on Tiktok and gained widespread popularity with Russian-speaking readers. The Russian government took notice and, along with other popular books and content about LGBTQ characters and themes, banned it. The government claimed that it violated a […]

Groan

The Firm by John Grisham

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It was the eyes, the cold black eyes with layers of black wrinkles around them. Great eyes. Unforgettable eyes. His hair was white and thin on top with thickets around the ears, and the whiteness contrasted sharply with the rest of his face. When he spoke, the eyes narrowed and the black pupils glowed fiercely. Sinister eyes. Knowing eyes. ― John Grisham, The Firm You have only two choices, Mitch. Join us, or die. ― John Grisham, The Firm CBR17 Bingo: Borrow (Bingo from Arts to […]

I give up

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts

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I think La Nora’s next book should be about serial killers who flip houses and not the cops who catch them. There were two places in Hidden Nature where it felt like Nora Roberts was interested in what she was writing – the home renovation and the icky serial killers. Ok, there was a third area where she perked up – when she was writing about dogs. But, I think we all agree that the dogs and the serial killers should be kept separate. Her […]

To DNF or not DFN

The Antique Hunter's Death on the Red Sea by C. L. Miller

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Scenario: You start reading a book, and then get a reminder that it’s due back to the library soon. Assuming no renewals, do you 1) speed through the rest, or 2) give up. The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea is going to be a ‘give it back not completely read’ for me. There’s nothing wrong with it as far as I’ve gotten, but it’s not quite what I want right now. I kind of wonder if I’d read the first in the series […]

I am exhausted.

Bunny by Mona Awad

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I watch them tug at him with a fury that no doubt they put into their graduate school applications. An endlessly entitled fury that will drive them toward the shiny pretty things of this world and not stop until they have claimed them. ― Mona Awad, Bunny CBR16 Bingo: Rage I did not finish this book. I enjoy complicated, messy, unlikeable characters. But the only person I could stand was the poet whom everyone ostracized. Maybe that was the point all along. Samantha Mackey (Smackie) […]



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