Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Murder at the Opera and maybe a few other places too

The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

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The Witness for the Dead almost feels like The Goblin Emperor was written more as a prequel, and not as something of a branch off sequel. The character Thara Celehar is not a major presence in the initial novel, but he’s got a full personality and sense of self and history in the follow-up novella. My only real complaint is that it feels kind of like you need to have recently read the first novel or have a pretty good memory of some of the […]

I honestly would have enjoyed just reading about what it’s like to be an opera singer

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

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A group of international businesspeople, government leaders, and ambassadors gather together in the house of the vice president of an unspecified South American country to celebrate the birthday of one Mr. Hosokawa, a Japanese businessman. The vice president and the businesspeople of the South American country are trying to impress Mr. Hosokawa and convince him to set up factories and invest in their county. Mr. Hosokawa is only there because he will get to hear Roxanne Coss, world renowned opera soprano, sing. Mr. Hosokawa is […]

An Opera Story that Doesn’t Include Phantoms

The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee

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I will start this review by saying I DNFed this book at about a hundred pages, but not because I didn’t like it. I really liked it. But I’ve realized I am a bad reader on digital platforms. I tried Hoopla for the first time, hoping to fill the void that’s been the suspension on our county-wide library lending program. I borrowed Queen of the Night from Hoopla and had an immensely hard time reading it on my computer screen. Which seems ridiculous since I […]

A bit like “About a Boy”, except here the Hugh Grant character is a heroin addict

Sangen om en brukket nese (The Ballad of a Broken Nose) by Arne Svingen

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4.5 stars Bart is about to turn thirteen. He’s named after Bart Simpson, because it seems his mother wanted him to be tough and clever and able to handle himself. This is also why she’s signed him up for boxing lessons. He dutifully  goes to practise several times a week, and one of these days, he may actually start hitting. His boxing coach suggests he may want to try out for some other sport, which Bart can understand, as except for having a pretty good […]



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