Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life.”

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

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Cbr17bingo School This short novel is considered Muriel Spark’s best work. Set in a girls’ school in Edinburgh in the 1930s, it tells the story of a group of school girls and their influential, charismatic teacher Miss Jean Brodie. “The Brodie Set,” as the girls and their teacher are known, attract envy and suspicion from both students and staff at Marcia Blaine school as Miss Brodie flouts convention and invites her young students into confidences that are deeply inappropriate. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie […]

There’s something about Mary

Allegedly: A Novel by Tiffany D. Jackson

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Cbr17bingo White (bingo #1) I’ve previously read and favorably reviewed two of Tiffany D. Jackson’s novels: Monday’s Not Coming and Grown. Jackson is an outstanding YA novelist, taking on challenging topics such as murder, sexual predation and mental illness. Her novels feature black girls who are sexualized and viewed as adults even though they are children. Allegedly, Jackson’s 2017 debut novel, involves all of the above: a black girl accused of murdering a white baby, her abuse while incarcerated, teenaged pregnancy, and lots of undiagnosed […]

Gothic mystery novel at it’s most just finest

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

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While on a trip to Montreal, I had a back up book in the suitcase, but the mood just wasn’t right for The Haunting of Hill House – hot, humid holidays do not call for scary, dense, chilly horror novels. So, while wandering through Old Montreal, we found a multi-lingual bookstore a few minutes before closing. Feeling rushed, I picked one of the staff recommendations, a mystery novel with a very bright cover. I had never heard of Riley Sager before but I do seem […]

“The past is the future”

Obasan by Joy Kogawa

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Cbr17bingo citizen Over the years, I have read a number of books that have dealt with the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy and Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic and When the Emperor Was Divine were all written from personal, family experiences of that shameful chapter in US history that was left out of history books when I was in school (and is probably being removed from them now). I had never heard of Joy […]

It’s not good but it has good intentions

The Maid: A Novel by Nita Prose

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Cbr17bingo Work The Maid is a mystery that features a main character named Molly Gray who is a maid at the swanky Regency Grand Hotel and who is on the autism spectrum, even though author Nita Prose never tells us so outright. Molly is socially awkward and has difficulty reading social cues. She takes things very literally, adheres strictly to her schedule, and is a rule follower. In the past, her Gran, who raised her, helped Molly interpret the puzzling statements and actions of the […]

Crivens!

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

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Cbr17bingo Borrow Wintersmith is the third book in Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series. Tiffany is a girl who knows about making cheese and tending sheep and who also happens to be a witch. Despite her young age, she has demonstrated extraordinary abilities and attracted the attention of other witches, who have taken her on to teach her how to use her skills. The first two books were outstanding. They were full of action, danger and wild adventures, and they introduced the reader to the Nac […]



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