Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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My high hopes for horror were halted

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez

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I read another one of Enriquez’s collections of short stories, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, earlier this year. I loved that collection so much. In my review, I called it the ‘most effective collection of short stories I [had] ever read’ and a ‘knockout’. I figured that Things We Lost in the Fire would be similar. Unfortunately that is not the case. In Things We Lost in the Fire, we have the same elements in each short story present in the collection of short stories in The Dangers […]

The most effective collection of short stories I have ever read

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez

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The Dangers of Smoking in Bed is a collection of short stories by Mariana Enriquez. The stories are a mix of magical realism and outright horror. An Argentine writer, many stories take place in Argentina but a fair few also take place in Barcelona, Spain. Enriquez embues each story with a richness of their environment that make each story feel real and possible, despite the more horrific, fantastical elements. Most collections of shorts stories that I have read in my life are mostly fine. They […]

If you don’t understand women, don’t make one your main character.

Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

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Labyrinth of the Spirits is the fourth and final novel in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It’s a fitting end to an enjoyable series, and does an admirable job of gathering up all the loose threads of the three previous books. Like The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel’s Game and The Prisoner of Heaven, Labyrinth of the Spirits tells a magical mystery story of the dark days of Franco’s Fascist Spain. It does not disappoint in the telling of the story, and I was (mostly) engrossed […]

The whole experience of being hit by a bullet is very interesting.

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

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Orwell is a man of strong convictions. He believes so passionately in the fight against fascism that in 1936 he travels to Barcelona to fight in the revolution. Homage to Catalonia is a detailed account of the politics surrounding the revolution, a fervent defense of the working class and a witness of war from the trenches. “All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.” I will be honest and say that the politics interested me […]

Sometimes quitting is the right thing to do

Malena es un nombre de tango by Almudena Grandes

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Disclaimer: I did not finish this book. One of my goals for this year is reading more Spanish and Latin American women writers. I asked a few friends to suggest some names at the end of last year and Almudena Grandes was one of the writers that almost everyone recommended. As to why I decided to go with her longest novel (700+ pages!), I don’t really know but I wish I hadn’t. My issue is not with her writing, Grandes is clearly talented and can […]



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