Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


C I Yikes

Libra by Don DeLillo

Poisoner In Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control by Stephen Kinzer

The Ghost by Robert Harris

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Recently, I read three different books featuring CIA chicanery (two were fictional). This was unintentional but I figured since the themes were similar, I’d just batch review them rather than do individual ones. Libra***** This was a re-read. I liked it the first time. I loved it now that I: a. had a better since of the Oswald timeline after reading Posner’s Case Closed and b. could appreciate the meta-narrative structure in a way I couldn’t before. This is the only DeLillo book I can really […]

“Montserrat had three loves. One was horror movies. The other was her car. The third was Tristán.” CBR BINGO – Disco

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Okay, so this rating makes it seem like I wasn’t a huge fan of this book, but I liked it, I really did! It’s been over a month now, and it’s still in my head and it feels good, hasn’t soured, haven’t forgotten it. But I had a bit of a hard time getting through it while reading, and the magic system was a bit too woobly for me. This is fantasy horror book set in Mexico City in the 1990s, following Montserrat, a film […]

“I know you’re out of practice, Shiloh, but the point of bringing men home isn’t to argue with them.”

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

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4.5 stars Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Plants or flowers on the cover Cary and Shiloh were best friends in high school. They saw each other every day, told each other everything, and were utterly inseparable. Everyone thought they were in love and would end up together, but by graduation, they’re still just friends. Both come from unstable family environments and dream of getting out of Omaha. Shiloh is going to college to become an actress and Cary has joined the Navy. Once Cary finishes boot […]

Charlotte Holmes is accused of murder

A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas

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3.5 stars Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: the latest or last book in a series CBR16 Bingo: fan fiction This is book 8 in the series, and really not a good place to begin. Start with A Study in Scarlet Women. Charlotte Holmes, more used to solving murder mysteries, now finds herself questioned by the police, the main suspect in the murder of Lord Bancroft Ashburton. Inspector Threadles is concerned for her, but needn’t have worried, Ms Holmes isn’t going to let something as tiresome as […]

The Power of a Beautiful Woman Against a Kingdom

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

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Before starting A Song to Drown Rivers, I wasn’t familiar with the Four Great Beauties of China beyond a vague recollection of the phrase. As I started, I did a quick google of Xishi and her story, which has two possible endings – one where the king she served has her assassinated for fear the skills she used to topple the Wu kingdom may be turned on him, and another where she and Fanli are able to live out in freedom and happiness. The execution […]

Alchemy

Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis

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I’ve been enjoying the tv show Lodge 49. It’s a very low-stakes but entertaining show about a guy at a dead end in his life who joins a secret society and gets entangled in some things while learning about life. It’s more character-driven than I thought it would be and I think that’s why I’m connecting with it. At any rate, when looking up books to read for fans of the show, this was the top recommendation by far. I can see why. It can accurately […]



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