Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Great subject, great writing, but the story did nothing for me

A Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux

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I do not wish to explain my passion—that would imply that it was a mistake or some disorder I need to justify—I just want to describe it. ― Annie Ernaux, Simple Passion Yet it is that surreal, almost non-existent last visit that gives my passion its true meaning, which is precisely to be meaningless, and to have been for two years the most violent and unaccountable reality ever. ― Annie Ernaux, Simple Passion At best, I’m ambivalent about this story. The writing is gorgeous. And […]

“The world is paralyzed, and humanity is in quarantine. It is a strange symmetry that I was born in one pandemic and will die during another.”

Violeta by Isabel Allende

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This was the library book club pick for the month and my first Isabel Allende novel. I looooved it, but it was a highly contested work at the book club (with many people rating it very poorly), but since this is MY review I’ll defend my position, and (somewhat begrudgingly) give insights into the critiques. This novel reminded Min Jin Lee’s “Pachinko” in its tone and ability to captivate me, and in introducing me to a geography/history that I don’t know a lot about (in […]

a fine final read of 2019

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

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I first came across Little Women as a child, and I came across it out of order; we had an old cloth-bound copy of Jo’s Boys on the bookshelf in my childhood home. It was next to Treasure Island, which I had devoured, and being a child I assumed that since books were next to each other they must be related. Ooops! I quickly learned the error of my ways (thanks Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library!) and settled down with an old illustrated tome. I was Jo. Who wasn’t […]

Books about murders that aren’t about murders at all

In the Woods by Tana French

The Likeness by Tana French

Faithful Place by Tana French

Broken Harbor by Tana French

The Secret Place by Tana French

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I feel a little bad this review, because these are excellent novels that deserve more than the fly-by treatment I’m about to give them. But I read these months ago, and I’m barely managing to accomplish a half Cannonball this year because writing reviews just isn’t happening for me lately. I have had the Dublin Murder Squad books on my TBR for some time, prompted by the positive reviews of many Cannonballers. Amusingly (to myself), putting the series out of mind for several years led […]

(bad “Electric Feel” joke)

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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The Power is horrifying in a lot of ways, one of which is how parts of it are also rather cathartic, which it shouldn’t be on the whole. If that opening sentence sounded a little confused and contradictory, that’s because it reflects my feelings about the thing. On the one hand, it’s about women getting to win, but on the other hand, the violence and abuses of power by men and women make it hard to feel good about anything, because it comes off as […]

This was very smouldery but I am being picky

When He Was Wicked (Bridgertons #6) by Julia Quinn

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So, this one was kind of weird! 3.5 stars, I’ll say, from the exact average of the first (great) half and the second (weird) half. Spoilers. But first, Goodreads summary: “In every life there is a turning point. A moment so tremendous, so sharp and breathtaking, that one knows one’s life will never be the same. For Michael Stirling, London’s most infamous rake, that moment came the first time he laid eyes on Francesca Bridgerton. After a lifetime of chasing women, of smiling slyly as […]



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