Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Does Jane Austen Write Crack?

Emma by Jane Austen

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CBR18 BINGO: Repair (Emma’s self-improvement) I suspect my reaction to Emma (the character) is a little different on this re-read compared to when I first read it probably some 15-20 years ago. I recall thinking back then that Emma’s heart was in the right place and not really understanding why Austen considered her “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” I do largely stand by that first impression, but this time I think I was more aware of Emma’s flaws and the way […]

Always and Forever My Favorite Jane Austen Book

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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CBR18BINGO: Refuge (comfort read) Has Pride and Prejudice always been this funny? I’ve easily read this at least half a dozen times, and I definitely recalled humorous moments, but my most recent re-read seemed to showcase more of them. Maybe it’s because it’s been a number of years since I read it, or that this is a new audiobook narrator for me, but either way it enhanced the reading experience. I’ve probably loved this book since the first time I read it, back when I was in […]

bingo means time to hit the backlog…

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

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CBR Bingo: One, for Austen’s first book! Whilst watching the superlatively wonderful Emma Thompson/Ang Lee Sense and Sensibility on a very successful (if I say so myself) Book Group On Tour weekend in Bristol, it occured to me that I’d never read the actual novel on which it was based. Looking to rectify this, I procured this copy at a local bookstore and then proceeded to gnash my teeth over it for what feels like AGES but probably was only a week or so? This was Austen’s […]

There really are a surprising number of murders for these young people to solve

The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield by Claudia Gray

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Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage for this ARC. This book is on sale now. Jonathan Darcy is getting tired of his parents nervously hovering around him and keeping him from doing anything more strenuous than sitting in front of a fire, reading. So when a letter arrives from his aunt Jane at Netherfield, who is feeling rather inundated with Bingley’s sisters and their spouses, and his mother is unable to go, he eagerly volunteers to go in her stead. He has not stopped thinking […]

The gang’s all here!

The Late Mrs. Willoughby: A Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery by Claudia Gray

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My local bookstore recently had a table full of Claudia Gray’s Jane Austen-based detective series on sale, so I picked up a couple, not realizing that I was starting with books 2 and 3. That’s a little bit of a shame, and I might circle back around to the first book eventually, but I still find this introduction to Gray’s series most entertaining. Gray has taken Austen’s best known and beloved characters from across several of her novels and created extended families for them, including […]

There is such a thing as too slow a slow-burn

The Perils of Lady Catherine De Bourgh by Claudia Gray

The Rushworth Family Plot by Claudia Gray

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The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh 3.5 stars Since Mr Jonathan Darcy, son of the esteemed Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Miss Juliet Tilney, daughter of Henry Tilney, have now solved not one, but two murders among their extended acquaintance, word has gotten around, and as a result, Lady Catherine DeBourgh has summoned the young Mr Darcy to come to Rosings Park to help her identify the person who is trying to kill her. He insists that Miss Tinley be invited as well. Both young persons […]



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