Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Too much of the less interesting Fleishman

Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

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I’m a big fan of Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s celebrity profile pieces for magazines like The New Yorker and GQ- they are smart, insightful and well-written essays that reflect on larger cultural issues as filtered through the lens of a particular celebrity.  Given this history, I had high hopes for her first novel. The plot in Fleishman is straightforward: Toby Fleishman, a specialist physician in Manhattan, is in the process of divorcing his wife, Rachel.  Rachel drops their two kids off at Toby’s rental apartment one morning […]

On The Avenue

Losers Live Longer by Russell Atwood

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Starting in September, I’ve resolved to read at least one Hard Case Crime novel per month. I collect Hard Case Crime books as a hobby, though there are getting harder and harder to find in used book stores. I always enjoy reading them but I sort of take it for granted that I can do so at anytime; knowing they’ll always be there. I had to force myself to read Casino Moon last month in order to check off a library bingo square. It wound up being […]

Grown-Up Me May Have Overthought Things in Places but Wins in the End

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

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Bingo 21 (Back to School) I remember in elementary school being mightily impressed by From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler, but have no memory of what it was I liked or why I’d had to read the book in the first place. I suspect it was likely for a book report or reading hours. I kind of remember now upon a re-read over two decades later, in spite of some reactions to characters and situations that are likely the grown-up in me, […]

Golden Child

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I was lucky enough to win an ARC of The Velveteen Daughter by Laurel Davis Huber from Goodreads, and I really mean it when I say I was lucky to win that giveaway. The Velveteen Daughter is a lovely, charming book.  It’s well-written and gives a wonderful sense of time and place.  It’s easily the best book I’ve read all year and one of my favorites ever.  It’s not actually released until July 11th, but I highly recommend getting it as soon as it’s available.  […]

Yes, yes! All of the Yes!

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I ended up reading this book by accident. I thought I’d requested a book with the same title written by Victer Lavelle, but this is what showed up at the library when I went to pick it up. Since I was already there I figured I’d give it ago. And I’m glad I did as this was one of the most adorable, wonderful books I’ve read in a while. First, every single major player in this book is female. And not a whiny, incapable cipher […]

Ladies Who Paint

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When I first started reading The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, by Dominic Smith, I was pretty sure I didn’t like it. The first chapter felt like it was about dissatisfied rich people and I was not in the mood for that nonsense.  Happily, it is not about dissatisfied rich people, nor is it about the theft and forgery of a Dutch painting, which is what I thought it was about after I decided it wasn’t about rich people.  Really though, it’s about three […]



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