Cannonball Read 14

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“The mountain is there to be crossed.”

Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

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This is third in the Maisie Dobbs series. It was my favorite so far, so I’m looking forward to continuing this series. In Pardonable Lies, Maisie is working on three separate cases: helping 14-year-old Avril Jarvis, who’s been accused of murdering her stepfather, finding out more about her friend Priscilla’s brother, who disappeared during World War I, and working for Sir Cecil Lawton, who promised his wife on her deathbed that he would search for their son, who was also reported dead during WWI. At the […]

An Informative Memoir by the King of Clowns

Grock: King of Clowns by Grock

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This was a pleasant read and Grock was a cheerful raconteur of his interesting life story. Grock was one of the most famous performers of his day, but as he himself writes, “Clowns too are soon forgotten.” I think the fact that clowning is an art best experienced live, combined with it not usually being recorded for posterity, leads to the progressive cultural memory loss of people like Grock, except by those with an intense knowledge of the field (there are videos of him that […]

Pretty Enjoyable

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

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Series: Maisie Dobbs. I read Book 1 in 2016 (and reviewed it). What I remembered about this series prior to reading this book: Absolutely nothing. I thought I remembered that these took place after World War II, but that was actually incorrect–so, nothing. Why I stopped reading the series: Clearly, the first book didn’t make much of an impression on me. I thought that was the only reason, but then halfway through Birds of a Feather I went back and read my review of the […]

It’s the end of the world as they knew it

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

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I’m a new-er fan of Erik Larson. I read Devil in the White City only last year (or last last year?) which makes me unique in these parts, these parts being the Chicagoland area. That book details the creation of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, as well as the horrific serial killings by H.H. Holmes during that time period, and it is compelling. It’s pretty much required reading here, much like (shudder) Kate Chopin’s The Awakening in Louisiana which I read, I dunno, 5 […]

Silly Ol’ Bear

Winnie’s Great War by Lindsay Mattick

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Having read the picture books about the true story behind Winnie-the-Pooh, (one also created by Lindsay Mattick and Josh Greenhut and illustrated by Sophie Blackall) I figured I had a pretty good handle on the story before going into the high second-to-third grade novel, Winnie’s Great War. I will say I liked. But will add, your experience will vary from mine. Shoot, my experience varied from page to page. Mattick is a decedent of the Captain Harry Colebourn of the story. One night her son […]

The black bat night approached and enfolded her in its wings

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

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For the past 15+ years, I’ve been the target audience for the Man Booker awards: literary fiction snob leaning to British Commonwealth authors. Though I have been branching out into other genres over the last few years, I still look to the Booker long- and shortlists for recommendations and usually pick up at least a few each year. For some reason, I haven’t looked much into other prizes until this year when I realized the Baileys (formerly Orange) prize lists would be a great resource […]



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