Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Every Last Fear, and the People Affected by True Crime Entertainment

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay

by 1 Comment

This is the entry for the “Free!” square in bingo. I borrowed it 🙂 This was a really fun book to read. Horribly depressing subject matter, but there were some twists and turns. I won’t say the mystery is impenetrable as it becomes fairly clear about halfway through, but the way the events unfold is very interesting.  Matt Pine is a student at NYU who is dealing with the aftermath of a true crime documentary about his brother, Danny Pine, and the murder of Danny’s […]

An excellent book but not my cup of tea

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

by Leave a Comment

I read Gods of Jade and Shadow and thought it was enjoyable, so I was excited to read Mexican Gothic.  I’m not sure my expectations were met. Noemi is a socialite in the upper-class of 1950s Mexico City. She goes to parties, she flirts, she wears beautiful gowns because she actually enjoys them, and she wants to go university against her family’s wishes. Noemi’s life gets upended when her father asks her to go check on her cousin Catalina who has written a strange and disturbing […]

A compelling mystery, an intrepid heroine, a musty creepy mansion… and colonialism

Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia

by Leave a Comment

The book opens up from the perspective of a boy out on a party with a flighty, superficial and possibly spoiled socialite.  I think this was intentional on the part of the author.  A party girl is not what we expect to be a heroine of a story, much less a horror one.  Noemi Taboada is a lovely heroine. Unusual in that she is smart and strong (as most heroines are) but also flighty, stubborn and a socialite who enjoys going to parties and flirting with […]

Mexican Gothic!

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

by 2 Comments

I love gothic novels. I love gothic films. I love gothic stories, in general. And I loved this one. I’ve never read a gothic novel that takes place outside of Europe, unless they’re on the East Coast of the U.S. And to set one in Mexico was such a great choice. Though, the menacing family and house are purely English and very familiarly gloomy. Mexican Gothic follows Noemí Taboada as she travels from her exciting life as a beloved socialite in Mexico City to a […]

Whistleblowers are an integral part of any free society

The Unarmed Truth: My Fight to Blow the Whistle and Expose Fast and Furious by John Dodson

by Leave a Comment

Around the middle of January, I kept seeing a meme getting passed around that listed the last several presidents and their biggest controversies. I don’t remember all of them, but the basic gist was that Republican presidents have been riddled with controversial policies and/or behavior (Watergate, Iran/Contra, Iraq, the entirety of Trump’s presidency…). What stood out to me, though, was that the most controversial part of Obama’s presidency, according to this meme, was that he wore a tan suit once. Even though this was just […]

What if Cinderella met a god of death instead of a fairy godmother?

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

by Leave a Comment

I was on hold for this book for months at my local library, and after having read it, I get it. I had a co-worker who said there was a difference between books and literature. At the time, I thought she was being snooty, but every now and then I read a book that makes me go, “Oh, so that’s what she meant.” Gods of Jade and Shadow is literature.  Casiopea Tun lives with her family in a small village in the Yucatán peninsula. Casiopea […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo