Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Amerigo!? Heck no!

The Letters of America Vespucci and other documents illustrative of his career by Amerigo Vespucci

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Library Book Bingos exist for two reasons: 1. clearing my shelves of books that would have otherwise sat there and 2. challenging myself to learn new things. I don’t really like the second purpose. I prefer to read what I want to read and that is that. But this summer, all of my local libraries are doing Ocean themed bingos (boring!). One of them required a biography of a seafaring explorer. I knew little about Amerigo Vespucci, the man from which the word “America” likely […]

A journey that could not take place at the moment…

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

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Ginny is a 17-year-old who embarks on a journey left to her by her eccentric Aunt Peg.  After her death, Peg left Ginny a sent of 13 little blue envelopes and some very strange instructions.  In the first is some money to get to NYC and then London and the rules: she can only bring a backpack, she is not allowed to bring any guidebooks, she cannot bring any extra money, and she is not allowed to use electronics, which includes contacting the U.S. by […]

cbr12bingo – The Roaring 20s (and two more “bingos”)

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

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Oh, Hemingway. You dirty old dog. I have a soft-spot for the Lost Generation, and a sentimental attachment to The Sun Also Rises. While plenty of this novel- and his writing in general- has aged poorly, there is still value to be found. Hemingway was plenty of things as both an author and a man, but here I will choose to focus on the story and the broken people within- and the story of my attachment to this book. My first read was back in […]

well, that escalated quickly

The Wallcreeper by Nell Zink

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Girl meets boy. Well, woman potentially committing corporate espionage is spotted by a company man. Company man whisks her away to a life of luxury. Well, they get hastily married after knowing each other for three months. His parents suggest a suicide pact. I felt sad. His awkward hands reminded me of the flames around Joan of Arc at the stake. Honeymooners leave America for Europe. Well, man takes a shady position at the shady company and wife is along for the ride. Man hits a […]

Quarantine Reading

Conviction by Denise Mina

Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death by Donald Westlake

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Been doing a lot of reading to pass the time during the quarantine. I finished these two books back to back, both were good in their own respective ways. So here are the reviews… Conviction I didn’t mean for this to be my first Denise Mina book. I’ve tried and failed twice to get into Garenthill. But the premise seemed too good to pass up and I thought it would be a fun pleasure read. It starts off rocky. The main character, whose perspective we get first […]

Be she Rachel or Catherine, one girl learns to survive and be free while all the while, in hiding

Catherine’s War by Julia Billet

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Catherine’s War is a Holocaust story with a twist. This time a young, French-Jewish girl, Rachel, goes into hiding but does it in the open. She (and other children) do not stay in any one place too long (usually not by choice). They sometimes are only one step ahead of the Nazis at any point. Julia Billet created (and Ivanka Hahnenberger translated), Rachel, our narrator. Rachel goes to the progressive Sèvres Children’s Home where children of both faiths learn in a non-traditional setting. We see […]



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