Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search this Site

| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Instagram
  3. Follow us on Bluesky
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • Getting Started in CBR18
    • Rules of Respect
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
    • About Cannonball Read
  • Our Team
    • The CBR Team
    • Leaderboard
    • Recent Comments
    • Participant Interviews
    • Cannonballer Location Maps
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
    • Star Ratings
    • Featured Review Archive
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • Donate
    • CBR Merchandise
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • 2026 Registration
    • Suggest a Review
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Social Media

“Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.”

June 5, 2014 by narfna Leave a Comment

Welp. That was different. And very unlike the Wilde I have previously known and loved. I enjoyed the story of this book, but I think what I loved most about it were all the underhanded (and not so underhanded) things Wilde had to say about art and artists. I’m pretty sure all of you already know the basic premise, even if you haven’t read the thing. The beautiful and amoral Dorian Gray, who doesn’t age, has a secret portrait that bears all signs of corruption […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: classics, literary, narfna, oscar wilde, speculative, the picture of dorian gray, Victorian

narfna's CBR6 Review No:44 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: classics, literary, narfna, oscar wilde, speculative, the picture of dorian gray, Victorian ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

????????????????

May 21, 2014 by narfna 5 Comments

NB: I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from the Goodreads First Reads program, but that has not affected the content of my review. What the F star star cunt* did I just read. IIIIIIIIIIIII . . . have no idea how to rate this book. I have no idea how to talk about this book. I have no idea how to think about this book. I mean, on the one hand, I’m so glad something like this — so weird and weird and […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: advanced reader copy, laline paull, literary, narfna, speculative, the bees

narfna's CBR6 Review No:42 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: advanced reader copy, laline paull, literary, narfna, speculative, the bees ·
Rating:
· 5 Comments

If you’re looking for a totally immersive reading experience, here you go, but be prepared to work for it.

May 20, 2014 by narfna 2 Comments

The first thing to know about S. — J.J. Abrams’ and Doug Dorst’s literary experiment slash ode to the written word — is that you get out of it what you want to get out of it. If you want to get all crazy conspiracy theory and puzzle out a bunch of mysteries, you can. If you just want to sit back and be immersed in the story, with a little brain power, you can. If you want to engage somewhere in between those two levels, […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: allegory, doug dorst, j.j. abrams, literary fiction, mystery, narfna, s., scholarship, speculative

narfna's CBR6 Review No:40 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: allegory, doug dorst, j.j. abrams, literary fiction, mystery, narfna, s., scholarship, speculative ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

It’s a YA book based on a principle of game theory. But with kissing!

May 15, 2014 by narfna 3 Comments

For YA, The Winner’s Curse is very good. And if that just isn’t a ringing endorsement! I’m to the point now where I only read YA books if they come heavily recommended (or if they’ve been lauded as so terrible that I just have to read in order to satisfy my insatiable curiosity). And The Winner’s Curse came pretty heavily recommended. I follow a disturbing amount of YA book bloggers, and they all LOVED this thing. (Of course, they also all seem to be convinced […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: marie rutkoski, narfna, Slavery, speculative, the winner's curse, war, Young Adult

narfna's CBR6 Review No:39 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: marie rutkoski, narfna, Slavery, speculative, the winner's curse, war, Young Adult ·
Rating:
· 3 Comments

There are all kind of ghosts in this life, and this book has most of them.

March 11, 2014 by narfna 2 Comments

Nothing about this is the way I thought it was going to be. I really, really liked it. I think the main reason I’m always so surprised when I enjoy Stephen King novels is that the very first book of his I ever read was Cell, which I didn’t like, and which I now know is considered to be one of his inferior offerings. This is an especially dumb mindset to have now as I’ve read quite a few since then and enjoyed all of them […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: coming-of-age, crime, hard case crime, joyland, michael kelly, mystery, narfna, speculative, Stephen King, thriller

narfna's CBR6 Review No:22 · Genres: Audiobooks, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: coming-of-age, crime, hard case crime, joyland, michael kelly, mystery, narfna, speculative, Stephen King, thriller ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

Ghost story? Metaphors? Say what now?

February 16, 2014 by narfna 5 Comments

Oy. First thing: the third star of this rating is entirely for Jack Davenport, the narrator of the audiobook, whose voice is like sex. When he talks, my ovaries try to leap out of my body like that tiny alien in Alien. I try to explain to them this is counterproductive, but it continues to happen. Second, this book was incredibly frustrating and I hope writing this review will help me to sort out why. I read Setterfield’s debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale, several years ago, and […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: bellman & black, diane setterfield, gothic, mystery, narfna, speculative, Victorian

narfna's CBR6 Review No:12 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: bellman & black, diane setterfield, gothic, mystery, narfna, speculative, Victorian ·
Rating:
· 5 Comments
  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16


Recent Comments

  • katie71483
    on Dog Days Are Over, Bitches
    definitely some healing from religious trauma! And, Saved! is one of my favorite movies of all time.
  • jomidi
    on Library Week! Show us Your Library Joy
    I meant to visit museums using library passes (so $5 admission for one museum and $15 admission to another museum)...
  • jomidi
    on Library Week! Show us Your Library Joy
    Speaking of other stuff at libraries, in the past couple of months I used library museum passes to pay only...
  • jomidi
    on Library Week! Show us Your Library Joy
    Long Hill Township (NJ) library was my local library when I lived in NJ. I still attend their author events...
  • Emmalita
    on Library Week! Show us Your Library Joy
    Those are all great! My local library regularly has herb and gardening classes. Next Tuesday I’m going to one on...
See More Recent Comments »

Support Our Mission

  • Support Our Mission, Donate Today!
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo

The reviews and comments posted on this site reflect the opinions of individual posters and do not reflect the views of Cannonball Read.

© 2026 Cannonball Read Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) | Log in