Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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This Week, In Irish Trauma Porn…

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

The Gathering by Anne Enright

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To be fair, only half of this is Catholic trauma porn. One may wonder why Ireland, of all places, has spawned such a fabled literary heritage. Personally I think it’s their sly sense of humour, finely tuned after years of British occupation. Perhaps it’s the potatoes. Both of these books abundantly feature potatoes.  Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan) *** Bill Furlong is a coal merchant in a small town in Ireland in 1986. It’s nearly Christmas; the busiest time of the year for him. […]

Beautiful, harrowing and oh so sad

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

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CBR16 Bingo: Liberate (our protagonists are fighting in World War I to keep the world safe from the Germans) Official plot summary, because I finished this book in early April: It’s 1914, and talk of war feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. At seventeen, they’re too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle – an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, […]

February-March 2024 Leftovers

The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones

A Lowcountry Bride by Preslaysa Williams

Bone White by Ronald Malfi

Alexander the Great by Phillip Freeman

Nero: Matricide, Murder and Music in Imperial Rome by Anthony Everitt and Roddy Ashworth

Beyond a Boundary by C.L.R. James

A Stab in the Dark by Lawrence Block

The Killing Kind by John Connolly

Shōgun by James Clavell

Nobody's Angel by Jack Clark

A Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Tinseltown's Most Shocking Crime by Casey Sherman

Village in the Dark by Iris Yamashita

Nestlings by Nat Cassidy

Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland

The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age by Michael Woolraich

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Rain, rain, go away. I thought my reading count looked too low and then I realized I didn’t do leftovers for February, so here’s Feb-March combined. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and Rise of the Tudors ***** Jones is such a talented historian. Gets all the important stuff of the Wars of the Roses in great detail and lets the story entertain. His Templars book will soon be on my radar. A Lowcountry Bride**** Had to read this for a library […]

“The moment I saw his eyes, I experienced something I never felt before.”

The Story of Yoru and Asa by Harada

The Story of Yoru and Asa: Encore by Harada

Happy of the End (Vol. 1) by Ogerestsu Tanaka

Happy of the End (Vol. 2) by Ogerestsu Tanaka

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Kuma continues to publish challenging, thought-provoking work, and I’m glad they’re getting this material translated into the English-language market. Both of these series were a lot of fun to read and made me think about relationships, dysfunction, trauma, and various societal issues. The Song of Yoru and Asa and Yoru and Asa: Encore follows Asaichi, who is the vocalist for a rock band. Yoru joins as a bassist, even though he was a popular vocalist in his last band. Asaichi thinks he’s straight but ends […]

You okay?” “I think so.” A more accurate response would have been clinically alive but dead inside, but that probably wasn’t appropriate with strangers.

Skin and Bones: London Love Book Three by Sophia Soames

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Mark nodded. “And you should take Hugo. Get some sea air in his lungs. Get shat on by some seagulls.” “Bloody seagulls.” “Sandy beaches, open spaces. Who needs shit like that?” “Nobody,” I agreed. “Fucking nobody.” ― Sophia Soames, Skin and Bones The quote above is the only one I highlighted while reading. And it perfectly encapsulates why I adore Sophia Soames’s writing. This is the third Soames book I’ve read in the past six months, and the second one I have read this year. […]

Fantasy is Social Commentary and I Love It

Witch King by Martha Wells

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CBR15Bingo — Relation “ship” — This is a very relationship focused book and they spend time on two different ships as well. My first Martha Wells! And a nice way to start, as I fully enjoyed this book and am glad I went ahead and bought it at full price after dithering over it at the bookstore two days in a row. I got the B&N signed edition, which is a sturdy hardcover with her signature embossed in gold on the inside cover. I thought […]



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