Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Hold Up – Is That the French National Anthem I Just Heard?

The Montmartre Investigation by Claude Izner

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Rum doings in fin de siècle Paris.  And these affairs must be investigated, certainmente, but there is always time for a dalliance or two. Victor Legris, bookseller and part-time detective, is pondering over a single red shoe that has been brought to his attention by a Parisian goatherd, who discovered it in the street.  (Paris was a little more rural back in the day.)  It is possibly connected with the young lady dressed in red who was brutally murdered and dumped in Killer’s Crossing, Boulevard […]

A 300 year saga that goes surprisingly quickly

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

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Addie LaRue was born in a small town in France. Over 300 years ago. It’s 2014, and swhe now lives in New York and survives by lying, stealing, pilfering, and taking advantage of her unusual gift (or curse), she is forgettable. Not as in plain or nondescript. Rather, once she leaves someone’s sight, they forget her and meet her all over again. This is mildly inconvenient in shops and movies theaters, but it is tragic with lovers and friends. Imagine having a perfect day with […]

Reacquainting myself with Armand Gamache – #16

All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny

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This is the 16th outing with Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, and we meet him and his family in Paris, instead of their adopted hometown of Three Pines, Québec. All of his children, children-in-law, and grandchildren now live in Paris. Armand and Rein-Marie are enjoying their time together in the city where they were engaged, and that includes spending a lot of time with Armand’s billionaire godfather, Stephen Horowitz. After dinner one night, Stephen is injured in a hit-and-run, and in trying to solve that crime, […]

what happens to the torch-bearers, the candle holders, the vigil keepers?

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

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There is so much that I want to tell you about this book, but I won’t. I took so many notes, and placed so many scraps of paper between pages, but I do not want to ruin a single realization for you. Rebecca Makkai has crafted an intricately woven tapestry that you have to witness in its full glory; I do not want to give you a magnifying glass before you have had a chance to first witness the enormity of the project. The Great Believers hits […]

In which I begin to question my choices

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

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Series: Outlander. I read book 1 in 2015. What I remember about this series prior to reading this book: Not much. A married nurse in Scotland accidentally goes back in time and falls in love with a big, hairy Scotsman from several centuries ago. There’s a lot of disturbing sexual violence and the first book was ridiculously long. Why I stopped reading the series: See above re: sexual violence and book length. The plot: Claire (the nurse from Book 1) is back in her own […]

Ehhh, it was fine, but a lot of the magic was lost from the first

The Glamourist by Luanne G. Smith

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I really enjoyed the first book in this series The Vine Witch. Interesting magic, self-contained story, solid pacing, believable romance, fun mix of characters. The Glamourist, the second entry in The Vine Witch series, loses a lot of the fun and magic of the first book. While still a self-contained story which I greatly appreciate, The Glamourist lacks focus and fails to add anything interesting to the stories of characters that stick around. It’s– fine. Vine witch and potion master, Elena Boureanu, finds herself in Paris with her […]



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