Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Bad Friend We Can’t Resist

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

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It had been years since I’d read anything by Jennifer Weiner. I’m not sure why, exactly. Years ago, I enjoyed Good In Bed quite a bit, a novel about a woman whose ex-boyfriend writes an article about loving someone plus-size, and In Her Shoes, a story about two very different sisters (which was made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz). I also admire the the writing shes’s done over the years about how the literary world doesn’t take women’s fiction seriously, relegating popular books written […]

‘“There is nothing to talk about” she said. “I’m just a freak that’s all.”’

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

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After being convicted of libel, Mikael Blomkvist is hired to investigate the decades-old disappearance of Harriet Vanger, a teenage heiress, with the help of Lisbeth Salander. I read this book a long while ago, but very few things clung in my mind. Certainly not the length, or the amount of time that was devoted to the financial intrigue aspect. Also all the pedantic sandwich making and eating! First, the good. The mystery of Harriet Vanger is a fascinating one and hard to guess the truth […]

May 2022 Leftovers

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Hollywood Godfather: My Life in the Movies and the Mob by Gianni Russo

Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier by Mark Frost

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara

American Tabloid by James Ellroy

Hot Springs by Stephen Hunter

Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier

Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier

Dead Soon Enough by Steph Cha

Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka

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Here are the books I read in May 2022 that I didn’t get to give a full review for whatever reason. I read a lot of authors of AAPI descent; their books were all wonderful in their own respective ways… Sea of Tranquility **** Unquestionably a metacommentary on the author’s Station Eleven success in the shadow of Covid-19, it’s a beautifully written reflection on finding peace and contentment in the uncertainties of life. I don’t know that I enjoyed it as much as others did given […]

“And that very same evening—that very same evening—Lord Edgware dies. Good title that, by the way. Lord Edgware Dies. Look well on a book stall.”

Lord Edgware Dies (Hercule Poirot, #9) by Agatha Christie

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2 Book 12/30 The ending has made this one of my favorite Christies. You’d think eventually I’d stop being stymied by this woman’s writing, a woman who started writing mysteries a hundred years ago at this point, but it has yet to happen. Maybe I am just terrible at figuring out mysteries, but it’s probably that Christie was just that good. (Or both.) This one started out pretty standard for me. Poirot is called to do something a little […]

Did not expect my reaction to this one.

Defending Jacob by William Landay

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2 Book 10/30 I have traditionally really been into most legal thrillers I’ve read. I love all the procedural stuff, and I love watching characters be good at a job I myself would be absolutely abysmal at. There’s also a lot of room for twists and turns, and for all that hard-hitting thematic junk as well. They’re usually fast reads for me. Also, I love a good murder mystery. And this had all of that! In addition to an intriguingly […]

In this life, you just never know what’s around the bend, be it a dead man or your next date.

The Maid by Nita Prose

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A lot of folks raved about this book. Not trying to sound all contrary, but I do not understand what the appeal is here. I am vexed. The plot is pretty easily summarized. Molly, a neuroatypical woman, was abandoned by her mother who suffered from drug addiction. She is raised by her grandmother and follows in her footsteps, when she graduates from high school, and becomes a maid. Extremely disciplined and focused on cleanliness, Molly is perfectly cut out for her occupation at a high […]



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