Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

She Used to Meet Me on the (Lower) East Side

The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden Keefe

Lush Life by Richard Price

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Read two consecutive books whose geographies bumped up against each other; one set in Manhattan’s Chinatown, the other set partially in it, as well as the adjacent East Village. Both were excellent in their own respective ways. The Snakehead How is Patrick Radden Keefe so damn good at writing non-fiction? This doesn’t reach the heights of Say Nothing (really what can?) but it’s a fascinating story in its own right and Keefe tells it well and thoroughly, providing enough detail without larding the narrative. He also takes […]

Another solid work from Charlie N Holmberg

Spellbreaker by Charlie N. Holmberg

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In Victorian England, magic leaves traces: runes, smells, and even sounds, and Elsie Camden has the rare ability to not only perceive these vestiges of magic but to undo the magic behind them, though she cannot perform any magic herself. Elsie is employed by two people: a stonemason who can perform only the most basic spells and a mysterious cadre of people trying to equalize the world. It is with this group, The Cowls, that Elsie uses her unregistered and illegal skills to undo unjust […]

Murder, They Wrote (And Directed)

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas by Glenn Kenny

The Big Fix by Roger L. Simon

The Damsel by Richard Stark

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I went on a bit of an unexpected reading tear these last few days, which is good because I need to clear some space off the TBR pile in advance of reading Barack Obama’s new book.   Moonflower Murders 4 Stars ::Trigger Warning:: Tragic homosexual plot And how sad it is because the book didn’t need it. I was curious as to how Anthony Horowitz was going to follow up with his superb Magpie Murders series. He does so by giving us most of an Atticus Pünd novel, […]

The Magic is Gone. Now What?

The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold

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Perhaps it’s unfair that I’m reviewing The Last Smile of Sunder City only days after finishing Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy. A Hugo award winning series is always going to be an unreachable pinnacle, especially by a debut author, and I’m probably doing an unrealistic comparison to expect Sunder City to feed the depth of my expectations after spending three books in Jemisin’s incredible craft. But I did expect more from Sunder City. This isn’t to say Arnold is a bad writer; he’s not. He’s a very […]

Nazis? I Hate Those Guys

The Book of Lamps & Banners by Elizabeth Hand

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I used to binge watch the tv show 24 with friends from college. In the beginning of the season 1 episodes, Jack Bauer would mournfully reflect on his circumstances and say, “I’m Jack Bauer, and this is the longest day of my life.” To which one of my friends joked: “What about season 3? Is that the third longest day of his life?” Generation Loss was published in 2007, which feels like an alternate timeline to what we’ve been through these last thirteen years. Yet Elizabeth Hand has […]

Too many ingredients

The Spotted Dog by Kerry Greenwood

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The Spotted Dog is the seventh instalment of Kerry Greenwood’s Corinna Chapman series.  The professional baker/amateur sleuth, her private detective boyfriend, and growing collection of quirky friends and neighbours unravel a knot of mysteries.  A kidnapped dog.  A series of burglaries.  Ransomware.  A mysterious mute woman.  Is it all connected? Between the morning baking, napping with her cat Horatio, and lustful encounters with the tall, dark and handsome Daniel, Corinna checks in on the other inhabitants of her Roman style apartment building and her fellow […]



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