Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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A literary mystery where the stuff on the side is more interesting than the main course.

Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

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I feel like this book proves how diverse the crime/mystery genre can be in terms of style and theme, and it proves that by not really being something I loved. I love mysteries, unsolved crimes being solved, themes of racial and gender equality, historical fiction mysteries, books about writers and journalists, and stories about women breaking free of their expected gender roles. And yet, I didn’t love this, even though it features all of those things. I like my crime and mystery books either to […]

Playing Catchup

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Night Train by David Quantick

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

Imposter Syndrome by Kathy Wang

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Listen, sometimes you graduate from college, panic about your future, land a job, and move to a new city and even though you’re reading a couple books a month you forget about the whole reviewing part. I’ve still got 6 more reviews to write from May-September reads, but here are a few from May and October. (I wrote half of the May ones in May so they might be a little outdated. A group of housewives in a suburb of Charleston, SC in the 90s […]

Will You Ever Win?

Dream Girl by Laura Lippman

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Laura Lippman continues to outdo herself. After an entertaining (but pedestrian by recent standards) standalone in The Lady on the Lake, she again finds the form she had in Sunburn. I don’t know yet which is better but I know I liked them both a lot. While I guess it’s somewhat of a mystery, this book is a horror, with transparent shades of Stephen King’s Misery. And yet, Lippman is able to make it a work all of her own by taking the piggish perspective of Gerry, the writer, and […]

Made for TV

The Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

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I wasn’t surprised to learn, halfway through Lady in the Lake, that it was being developed into a television series. Like Little Fires Everywhere, The Undoing, and most recently Mare of Easttown, Lady in the Lake weds mystery-solving with female midlife crises (“midlife crisis” defined generously–here the protagonist is under forty and still attractive, as readers are repeatedly reminded). The novel revolves around two women in 1960s Baltimore: Madeline Schwartz, a housewife who leaves her family to rediscover herself, and Cleo Sherwood, the murdered “lady in the lake.” Told she […]

The Most Dangerous Thing – Laura Lippman (2011)

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

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Phew boy this novel. I know that Laura Lippman’s non-Tess books get raked over the coals a little, and sometimes this is unfair. I think the last two books are pretty good. This book, however, commits the sin of trying really hard and falling short. It’s also not a fun book remotely, and a lack of fun and especially a lack of humor (at all, here) really means your book has to nail the complicated parts because there’s nothing to cushion the firm parts at […]

maybe THIS is what Quibi was supposed to be?

Snow Flakes by Ruth Ware

Treasure by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Slow Burner by Laura Lippman

Buried by Jeffrey Deaver

The Gift by Alison Gaylin

Let Her Be by Lisa Unger

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These little collections are great in a very specific way; the stories are quick, unique from each other, and can be accessed through both the Kindle and Audible. If I have just a few minutes to listen while doing chores, I can pop in and out without needed to re-immerse myself in something long and complicated! If I have a long line at the Post Office, I can stand and read the majority of a story while I wait. Low impact, low commitment, and decent […]



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