Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Even from the windows of a prison, Rhodia was a beautiful place.

Aftershocks by Marko Kloos

The Instrument by John O'Hara

The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Meaty by Samantha Irby

The Innocence of Father Brown by GK Chesterton

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Aftershocks – 3/5 Stars This is a novel that begins a new trilogy by Marko Kloos (author of the Terms of Enlistment series, which I haven’t read). I bought it from Audible one day on sale for like $3, and while I am not entirely sure I am going to seek out further books in the series, I found that to be a pretty good deal. It’s structured similar to the Expanse series or Game of Thrones, in that there are several main characters, from […]

Books to Film: Pal Joey and BUtterfield 8

John O'Hara: Four Novels of the 1930s by John O'Hara

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After recently reading Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I decided that I not only wanted to continue with my book-to-film theme, but keep it centered in New York City, too. That led me to John O’Hara’s  Pal Joey and BUtterfield 8. I had heard for years that the 1957 film version of Pal Joey was nothing like the 1940 Rodgers and Hart Broadway musical – Gene Kelly apparently portrayed him as a genuine no-good crumb (as Joey would say). In the film Frank Sinatra isn’t exactly […]

America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization.

The Collected Stories of John O'Hara by John O'Hara

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So this is a collection of stories from John O’Hara, who wrote many many more than are contained here, and there’s also a weird gap in the middle that I will discuss. For first third of this book, we have very short short stories from about 1935-1950. This represents a period in which John O’Hara was heavily publishing in The New Yorker and in a lot of ways, he kind of invented the genre of the “New Yorker” Story — short, impactful. For me, the kind […]



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