Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Historian friends to lovers, a haunted mansion and a potentially explosive teaspoon

The Antiquarian's Object of Desire by India Holton

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Amelia Tarrant and Caleb Stirling are both history professors at Oxford with a speciality in magical antiques. They have been best friends since childhood, but any hint of affection between them could be ruinous to Amelia’s reputation and the careers of both. As a result, they have to appear to be enemies and stage elaborate public fights every so often to make sure all their colleagues believe them to be bitter rivals. One such fight, involving a volatile magical teaspoon, causes a big enough explosion […]

Sometimes, a book cover promises cats and lies. This book, on the other hand, delivers in spades. SO many cats, guys.

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

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4.5 stars Nowhere Book Bingo 26: A book involving animals Monthly Keyword Challenge 26: Cat Official plot summary, because I finished this back in February, and my perimenopausal brain isn’t exactly helping here: Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life, and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for stray cats. Now it’s the shelter that needs a new home. And the only landlord who will rent a […]

An Old Favorite

Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones

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  I don’t know how many times I’ve read Howl’s Moving Castle. At least three, but probably more. If books were comfort food, this one would be creamy mac-n-cheese in a ceramic bowl on a cold winter’s day. It never gets old, it never gets dated. It is always exactly what it needs to be; which is a romping good time. For those who’ve not yet indulged in this delight, Howl’s Moving Castle follows Sophie, a young woman who inadvertently angers Ingary’s resident bad-witch and gets herself […]

“I’m going up to my room now, where I may die.”

Howl's Moving Castle (Howl's Moving Castle, #1) by Diana Wynne Jones

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**30 Books in 30 Days** Book 17/30 Most of the way through this, I couldn’t figure out why I had only rated it four stars on my first read (which was quite a while ago, in high school I think?). I was all, This is delightful! I love this! I’ve only ever had fond memories of it. And then I came to the ending, and I was like, Oh yeah, this is why. And then I also remembered Diana Wynne Jones book endings always tend […]

In which I review Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

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Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is one of those books I read as a grown-up and wished I had discovered as a child. It stuck with me enough that when I saw that the Folio Society had produced a copy I needed to get it, and whilst I missed the first print (nobody took the Christmas present hinting I did…) I managed to get it on the reprint and so had a re-read of it this year. A lot of people will come […]

I hope your bacon burns.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

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This is a perfect little book. It’s a fantasy story that understands how perspective limits the ways in which stories can be told, in the very best of ways. It’s a lot like the movie (or more so the movie does a great job of translating the story to the screen) and the result is a beautifully visual novel with heart, intrigue, curiosity, and sense. The story begins in a fantasy kingdom and Sophie’s mother has decided to push her three daughters into apprenticeships. Sophie […]



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