Cannonball Read 11

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Austen meets Downton

Longbourn by Jo Baker

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CBR11 Bingo – Remix   When tackling the Remix bingo square, it was OBVIOUSLY going to be some sort of Pride & Prejudice variation, with the actual challenge being which one to pick. Then I read LanierHgts’ review of Longbourn, and it immediately got bumped to the top of my list. Unlike other remixes that tend to modernize the story, or speculate what happened next, this book takes place during the events of the original Pride & Prejudice, but is told from the point of view of the house’s staff: Sarah, Mr & Mrs Hill, Polly, and James. It parallels […]

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7/29/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:34 |

It is a truth universally acknowledged that giraffes aren’t all that sexy.

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

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I was excited to read this, as it is a well documented fact that I am a total sucker for any and all Austen retellings. I recently enjoyed Unmarriageable, and was hoping to ride the wave of fun Austen stories here. I began to read, hoping for a fun, gender-swapped modern version of one of my favorite stories. AND THEN I REMEMBERED THE BOLLYWOOD BRIDE. (Oh my. I really despised that book. Remember that #cannonbookclub? Yikes.) Ugh. The good news is that this story is better. And I think the bulk of the credit for that can go to Jane […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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6/5/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:26 |

“In my humble opinion, pride is a fairly common sin, because everyone thinks very highly of themselves.”

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal

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As anyone who has been part of the Cannonball Read for a while knows, I simply do not have the power to resist a Jane Austen retelling. Even if I’ve heard terrible things about it, I’m probably still going to read it. Unofficial sequels, modernizations, books told from alternate points of view? I am ALL IN. I recently saw an article talking about how Jane Austen is all the rage right now with Southeast Asian writers and readers, and how there were a slew of upcoming books that were Jane-adjacent but told from the perspective of a young woman from […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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4/2/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:14 |

Every Pride and Prejudice retelling is an excuse to post Firth gifs

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal

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Two Pride and Prejudice retellings in a row that I’ve enjoyed! It’s a February miracle. I actually liked this one a bit better than Pride, but they’re both good and worth reading. The draw of Unmarriageable isn’t in the way the plot points are reinterpreted because all in all, it sticks pretty closely to the original story. The draw is in the early 2000’s Pakistani setting which is similar enough to the original English setting for the plot points to make sense and different enough in tone to breath new life into a well known story. The Binat family used […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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2/24/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:23 |

Better than most

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

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3.5 stars. At this point, my expectations for Jane Austen retellings are so very very low. There are about 2 that I can think of that I would recommend to anyone and considering I’ve read plenty? That’s not a great batting average. It’s like authors/publishers know fans will pick them up so they don’t feel like they have to try very hard. People LOVE Lizzie & Darcy so of course they’ll read. But in truth, you’re getting compared to one of the best writers of the last few centuries, so you should try harder. If an author manages to capture […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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1/21/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:5 |

CBR Bingo (8 and 9) This Old Thing

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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If “This Old Thing” hadn’t been a square on Bingo this year I could have easily gone my whole life without reading any Jane Austen, and I still haven’t seen any of her film adaptions. I read a lot of classic American literature in high school and college, including Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, several Steinbeck novels, The Scarlet Letter and even Moby Dick but I don’t think I was ever assigned anything from the other side of the pond while a student. I picked Pride and Prejudice because it seemed like the seminal Austen novel and I wanted to read something new for this square […]

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11/14/2018 's CBR10 Review No:115 |

“It’s a truth universally acknowledged that when rich people move into the hood, where it’s a little bit broken and a little bit forgotten, the first thing they want to do is clean it up.”

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

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I like that Ibi Zoboi didn’t call this a “retelling” of Pride and Prejudice. She’s going with the term “remix.” That seems to fit a little better, because while the main plot is pretty similar, there are lots of little things that don’t quite fit into a strict retelling. What Zoboi did instead was take a story that most of us already know, flip parts of it around, and make it her own. And it really worked for me. Zuri Benitez was born and raised in Bushwick, Brooklyn. She’s proud of her Haitian/Dominican heritage. She’s fiercely protective of her family […]

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10/9/2018 's CBR10 Review No:38 |

Every book is a different hood, a different country, a different world.

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

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Ibi Zoboi’s Pride is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in Brooklyn. The best adaptations take a familiar story and use it to explore contemporary issues. Once we identify each new character with it’s P&P counterpart, we understand where they fit in the story and then we can move on to the meat of it. We know class is going to be a part of the conflict, and since this is a modernization, we know getting the 5 Benitez sisters married off isn’t a motivation. 

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10/8/2018 's CBR10 Review No:43 |


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