Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Fun but ultimately unfulfilling

Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide by J.K. Rowling

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As a huge Harry Potter fan, there was no way I was skipping this book, which is essentially a collection of information from Pottermore, the official website dedicated to all things Harry Potter. I’ve read other supplemental texts affiliated with the series, but this feels like the least substantial of them all. The story is a small guide to Hogwarts – how to get there, fun facts about the school and its inhabitants – presented both as general information, and then commented on by Rowling herself as a creator. It provides very little that serious fans don’t already know. More […]

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1/4/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:3 |

Strike Re-read Completed, Bring on Book Four

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling pseudonym), Robert Glenister (narrator)

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Because my brain doesn’t seem to hold onto the details of mystery books the story is often new to me again. This time I didn’t have that experience though, I had already binged the BBC adaptation of the books, but I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with the characters. Once again Career of Evil is Rowling writing an intricate, but not unsolvable, mystery where the clues are right there in front of you, and even if you don’t catch the signs along the way, the resolution make sense after the big reveal.  This story dials down its setting and pace […]

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12/4/2018 's CBR10 Review No:59 |

I was drugged up when I wrote this.

Lethal White (Cormoran Strike, #4) by Robert Galbraith

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NB: I received a gratis copy of this book, but that has not affected the content of my review. This is a fact which you will quickly believe once you read the review. Thanks for my free copy, publishers!!!! I’ve been trying to write this review for a little while now, just staring at the blank screen, but I’m on some drugs right now that are making me diiiizzy*, so I apologize in advance if this review doesn’t come out as coherent as I’m thinking it is. *Yesterday while waiting for the results of a CT scan which I was […]

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11/28/2018 's CBR10 Review No:141 |

Funny when you have to remind yourself about things that, not long ago, consumed your every thought.

Brass; Lethal White; The Friend; Black Powder War; And Still I Rise; Wouldn't Take Nothing for my Journey Now; Pedagogy of the Oppressed; The Ruin; How to be Creature; The Italian Girl: The Cost of Living by Xhenet Aliu; "Robert Galbraith"; Sigrid Nunez; Naomi Novik; Paulo Freire; Maya Angelou; Sy Montgomery; Dervla McTeirnan; Iris Murdoch; Deborah Levy

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Brass – 3/5 Stars So on the one hand this book falls a little into the generic kind of circa 1990s second generation immigrant American novel that was big for a good while. I recently read Charming Billy by Alice McDermott, which does this very thing. And then on the other hand, this book is a solidly written novel. Or rather, it is a novel, but it a challenging kind of narrative. For one, the story is good and interesting, but also a little typical and banal, if that’s possible to be both. Or maybe it’s banal and typical, but […]

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11/8/2018 's CBR10 Review No:397 |

I came for JK Rowling, but I’m staying for the characters

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

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This is the fourth book in the Cormoran Strike series, and if you enjoyed the previous three books, I’m guessing you’ll also like this one. At the end of the day, you probably don’t need me to sell this book to you, but it doesn’t disappoint, given all that came before. Lethal White picks up almost immediately after Career of Evil, which ended with Robin marrying her piece of shit boyfriend, Matthew. So we get to spend a good bit of time seeing how that plays out. Strike’s newfound fame from catching the Shackleford Ripper has brought in a lot […]

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10/21/2018 's CBR10 Review No:42 |

It’s Not You, It’s Me: It Was Good, It Was Intricate But I Just Didn’t Love It

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

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Bingo Square (Round 2): Listicles (The Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2018) I never got into the habit of paying attention to release dates for most novels. Back in the day, I would find out a new novel from a beloved author was being released because I would find it on the “New Releases” display of the local Barnes and Noble – with some notable exceptions for very high profile novels.  With the transition to digital books, it’s been a bit harder for me to pay attention though the pre-order function does make it easy to make sure that once I […]

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10/18/2018 's CBR10 Review No:179 |

Accio Cannonball

Harry Potter Books 1-7 by JK Rowling

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Cannonball! Reading the Harry Potter series this time felt different than past times. I’m several years older than I was last time I read them, and this time I was reading them not just for fun, but to review for CBR (it makes a difference, I’ve found. . .). It’s also a time in American history when reading about the fight against the Death Eaters and their focus on purebloods is a little more uncomfortable than it has been in the past (I am not the only person seeing similarities between Voldemort’s grandiosity, vanity, and short-sightedness and a certain someone […]

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12/7/2017 's CBR9 Review No:57 |

Second time through, the characters make this just as good.

The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1) by Robert Galbraith

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The thing about entirely plot-based books is that they don’t usually make for good re-reads, and I am a TOTAL book re-reader. “Do I want to re-read this someday?” is genuinely a question I ask before I will elevate a book to the four star level. If the answer is no, then there better be some damn fine extenuating circumstances as to why not (for instance a book that’s really good, but so traumatizing and upsetting that you can’t read it more than once). Mysteries sometimes can’t be re-read, because you already know what happened (unless you forgot, in which case, congratulations, […]

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8/22/2017 's CBR9 Review No:56 |


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