Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Shoulda Beena Contenda

Button Man by Andrew Gross

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Button Man is my first Andrew Gross novel and it may be my last. Not because it’s bad; at three stars, it’s definitely not. But because it’s bland, predictable, uninspiring. And with a set up that’s right in my wheelhouse: gangsters, Prohibition, New York, etc., I should’ve liked it a lot more than I did. Positives: Gross does get the era of 30s New York right. Supposedly, this story was inspired by tales of his family, some of whom were Jewish immigrants from Russia. I don’t know the nuances of being a Russian Jewish emigre but I’m familiar with the story […]

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10/14/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:106 |

“Heartbreak is a loss. Divorce is a piece of paper.”

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Earlier this year, Taylor Jenkins Reid published Daisy Jones and the Six, which has generally been very well received critically and keeps popping up on “Must read” lists. In several review of that book, I saw this, Jenkins Reid’s previous release, from 2017, highly recommended. Several people who were so-so on Daisy Jones and the Six claimed to prefer The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and as movie stars seemed more intriguing to me than rock stars, I decided to give it a try. There are multiple narratives in this book.There’s the framing story of magazine journalist Monique Grant who is pretty much hand […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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10/10/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:72 |

You can hate the heroine; don’t hate the novel

Atonement by Ian McEwan

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CBR11bingo: History/Schmistory (historical fiction) BINGO: Two Heads Are Better Than One, Back to School, Own Voices, Classics, History/Schmistory While having lunch with a friend recently, we started talking about books and he mentioned that he doesn’t have any use for novels that are “about writing.” On reflection, I realized I am often quite taken with novels that could be classified as metafiction (The Magpie Murders, The Word is Murder/The Sentence is Death, and, going all the way back to CBR V, The Tragedy of Arthur). So it’s no surprise that, while I was slow to get on board with Atonement (during […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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10/6/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:45 |

American heiress and spinster daughter of an earl fall in love in the 1920s.

How to Talk to Nice English Girls by Gretchen Evans

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Another book where I’ve been putting off the review, but this time because I couldn’t work up the energy to talk about it. This was a rec from KJ Charles on Goodreads (she’s a good follow for more eclectic and/or self-pubbed books) and I’m glad I picked it up, but I’m not sure I’ll read any more books by this author. It was solidly in ‘I liked this but meh’ territory. Historical f/f romance is so hard to find, and when I’ve found it, it hasn’t often scratched that itch I like my romance novels to scratch. This one sadly […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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10/2/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:80 |

Shining Light on Colonialism

Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Petina Gappah

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Dr. David Livingstone died in May of 1873 in a village called Chitambo (in present day Zambia), located in central Africa. His African attendants buried his heart there, embalmed his body, and then transported it along with his papers over 1500 miles to Zanzibar so that they could be returned to England. The journey took 200+ days and two of the men on the trip Susi and Chuma gave a short account of it, mentioning illness and deaths within the travel party and other dangers along the way. In Out of Darkness, Shining Light, Petina Gappah imagines this journey through […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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10/2/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:53 |

A merely OK book made much better by the voice cast

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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From Goodreads: Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now. Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/29/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:68 |

How to get a book banned in six easy steps

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

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CBR11bingo: Banned Books BINGO! Vertically: Youths, Illustrated, Classics, Rainbow Flag, Banned Books The Banned Books bingo square is one of my favorites in CBR Bingo. I like to peruse lists of banned books and see what foolishness is causing people to get up in arms. I also like to combine the square with something I’ve been wanting to read, and Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple was the perfect choice. It’s been on my TBR list for ages, and I was surprised to read it is one of the most frequently banned books since it was first published […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/22/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:42 |

How to Fall in Love With a Peacock

The Pride of the Peacock by Victoria Holt

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There are slow burn books and then there is this one where nothing of importance happens for a good 70 percent of the book and then you just have an ineffectual heroine through most of the story who somehow saves herself in the end by talking. Definitely not one of Holt’s best. With a hero that I was rooting against and then the setting moving to Australia, this book just had too much that in the end didn’t work for it. “The Pride of the Peacock” follows Opal Jessica Clavering (known as Jessica) as she slowly unravels her personal history […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

Share the post "How to Fall in Love With a Peacock"

9/16/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:222 |


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