Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“Over her golden yard and the glittering hills beyond, into the darkness of the trees…”

Golden Age by Jane Smiley

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***Spoilers throughout*** Well, I finished this trilogy and this was a better book than the second one. I think because Smiley starts killing people off in this one, the cast feels less unwieldy and more focused. This book is more of a victory lap in terms of drawing everyone’s narratives to a close. I again had the issue that such dramatic things happen to these people that it feels unrealistic and kept taking me out of the narrative. Any time I spend most of the […]

I love epistolary novels but had a major issue with this one

The Jigsaw Jungle by Kristin Levine

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I am a sucker for an epistolary novel, and this one is told in a combination of notes, transcripts, drawings, and so on to give it a sense that it’s a scrapbook. The Jigsaw Jungle follows Claudia’s quest to figure out why her father has vanished. One evening he sends an email saying he will be home late and then never returns. Claudia’s mother then has to go on a work trip to Switzerland and Claudia ends up staying with her grandfather for two weeks while […]

A Delightful Gem of a Novel

Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins

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Wilkie Collins is best known for The Moonstone and The Woman in White, but I highly recommend this enjoyable social issues novel. The action keeps moving and the morals come quick and fast. Collins knew how to write a fully realized character and how to keep the reader’s attention continuously engaged. Man and Wife involves a tangle of relationships and social questions of the day. The main issue Collins is dealing with here is unfair marriage laws and the horrible situations women would be left in due to their […]

“Winston was the only person Randolph truly loved.”

Churchill & Son by Josh Ireland

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If I say “this book was a lot better than I thought it was going to be,” I definitely run the risk of sounding rude, but I was very pleasantly surprised by Churchill & Son. I’m not a politics book type of person, as I tend to find them too dry, but Ireland has written a very engaging and interesting book that deals with a lot of politics in a readable and nuanced way. I was never bored or forcing myself to push through a section […]

“Fighting a one-man war against the twentieth century:” Jane Ridley’s Attempt to Make George V Interesting

George V: Never a Dull Moment by Jane Ridley

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For the general reader who’s curious about Royal history and will only read one book about George V, this is the best pick. Jane Ridley is a great writer and puts lots of interesting details in here. She has a real gift for summarizing complicated topics and synthesizing them into very readable prose. One of my most intense special interests is Edward VII, so I’ve read a lot of books about him and his family. I have a collection of coronation memorabilia and a pretty […]

A Worthy Prequel to Bone

Rose by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess

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Wrapping up my Bone series re-read with the prequel graphic novel, Rose. This is written by Jeff Smith but illustrated by Charles Vess, so you’re not getting Jeff Smith’s cartoony style here, despite the misleading cover. Instead, you get Vess’s beautiful full-painted art, which is unfortunately a little squashed and hard to make out the fine details in the edition I got. I think it would have been better served by a full trade binding, but I ended up with a library edition with a “Kidproof Cover,” […]



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