Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen

The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza

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This was a book club selection for me – while it definitely is the kind of thing I enjoy (hello, Kate Morton novels), this one wouldn’t have been on my radar at all. The novel alternates chapters between Sara, a chef in Philadelphia with a failed restaurant and a failed marriage, and her great-grandmother Serafina, a young mother in early 20th century Sicily (spanning 1908-1925 to be exact). Sara’s beloved great-aunt Rosie has died and part of her last will is to send Sara off […]

“Was there no hope? the tigress seemed to be asking her. Will I always remain here? Will I never return home?”

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

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When Lucrezia, the third daughter of the Duke of Florence, is wed to Alfonso d’Este, she’s not sure what to expect – but whatever it was, it was certainly not that he was going to want her dead before they’d been married a year. I haven’t read Maggie O’Farrell’s work before, but she’s been on my radar after the success of Hamnet, and so when I saw The Marriage Portrait offered as a ‘lucky day’ loan from my library, I snapped it up. Hurrah for […]

The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind small

Zanzara by Gloria Vitanza Basile

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Born in poverty and raised in a squalid orphanage, Phaedra’s life transforms completely when her identity as a prince’s illegitimate daughter is revealed, vaunting her into the lap of luxury. But she has a long, tough path to tread still before she will reach her happy ending. I really, really love the crazy bloody bodice rippers of the 1970s and 80s. They are always wild and adventurous, often with a strong historical grounding, and take you careening through the kind of heroine’s journey that leave […]

Do Re Mi excited to tell you about this book

The First Notes: The Story of Do, Re, Mi by Julie Andrews

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I know one thing about music: what I like and what I don’t like. And, granted that can be eclectic (Jim Byrnes anyone? How about Queen? Elvis? Ella? Bowie? Fraggles?) But I never thought about the “how to” of it. After all, why bother? I knew I liked it, but why should I learn about Do, Re, Mi? It’s just a silly song in a fun musical movie right?  Well, yes, but it’s a lot more, too. While I still do not know a lot […]

Interactive board books around the world

Bruno Builder Bakes Bread (Mix-And-Match). by Nelleke Verhoeff

Our World: Brazil by Ana Siqueira

Our World: Italy by Francesca Di Marzo

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I like the company Barefoot Books. And I have a book dealer there. She sends me some finished copies. I like her. A lot. And this time she sent me three new board books. Two are from the Our Worlds series, and one is a standalone interactive book. Starting with the interactive book, Bruno Builder Bakes Bread (Mix-And-Match). The traditional board book sized book is split in the middle. It has the Builder on top and on the bottom a bakers stand with bread being […]

But they told so many lies this title doesn’t make sense!

All the Lies They Did Not Tell by Pablo Trincia

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The tag line of this book was “The true story of Satanic Panic in an Italian community”. I’m not sure it’s called a tag line, but cut me some slack. It’s the words under the title, and my poor tired brain can’t remember what that’s called! The tag line (or whatever!) should’ve been “The probably made up story of a bunch of kids who said their parents molested them and did semi-Satanic things”. I was not satisfied with the conclusion of this book. It’s literally […]



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