Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

When the source material lets you down

Hopscotch by Brian Garfield

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A few weeks ago I wrote about how delighted I am when I read the source material for a beloved movie and it turns out that the movie was a fantastic adaptation of a fantastic novel. I had a less rewarding experience with Hopscotch, which is rather a dull but light spy thriller written in 1975 and adapted into a charming (if dated) comedy action film starring Walter Matthau in 1980. The novel is about CIA field agent Miles Kendig, who is being forced into […]

“I’m looking for truth. Je church la vé·ri·té”

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

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CBR 14 BINGO: Shadow, because it deals with shedding light on the truth, which is not always what it seems Code Name Verity has been sitting patiently on my TBR for close to 10 years (having first been published in 2012). I snatched it out of a Little Free Library and thought it would be the perfect entry for the Shadow category in this year’s bingo. Reviewing this novel without giving away any spoilers is a little difficult, but not impossible if I focus on […]

“Keep Reading. Keep Writing. Keep Fighting. We’re all still here.”

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone

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I was intimidated by this book, which feels like a strange thing to say about a book that measures no more than 7 inches tall and less than 200 pages. But I was. A book that inspires so many positive, nay gushing, reviews that also seems to leave the reviewer at a loss for how to describe the book (see please reviews by Aquillia, andtheIToldYouSos, carriejay, and emmalita as a place to start) had me putting it on and taking it off my to read […]

Adorable cozy series

The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman

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The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax Emily Pollifax is a widowed housewife who has filled her days with volunteering and gardening. Society tells her that should be enough, but she finds herself unfulfilled and wanting excitement. One day, she remembers that as a child she wanted to be a spy, so she goes to the CIA to volunteer her services. She’s thrilled to be sent on her first secret mission, and doesn’t even care that she’s only a courier and the assignment was a result of mistaken […]

Put the Needle on it

Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

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Like about half the people I know, I have a father with an inexplicable fondness for all things World War II. Particularly films like A Bridge Too Far (which is a total snoozefest), but documentaries, too. Because I’ve spent one too many nights having to watch Hitler’s Secret Love Nest on the Discovery Channel I tend to steer away from the subject, particularly the dry, yes-it-was-all-rather-horrid approach of the British which they employed at least up until the 1980s. I do, however, have a subscription […]

When Chickens Come Home to Roost

A Legacy of Spies by John LeCarre

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John Le Carre (I can never figure out how to consistently get the accent mark to work on here, so I’m just not going to worry about it) is kind of a “warm blanket” writer for me. I love his books, especially the George Smiley ones, and I turn to them when I’m a little blue or distraught or as a palate cleanser from a more challenging book. When I saw he had a new book out I was so excited and it did not […]



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