I admit to judging books by their covers. Generally, that pans out for me. This one had a great cover AND a promising teaser from Joyce Carol Oates: As if Donna Tartt, Gillian Flynn, and Patricia Highsmith had collaborated on a screenplay to be filmed by Hitchcock-suspenseful and atmospheric. Did you read the same book as me Joyce? In fairness, there is a bit of Tartt, Flynn and Hitchock in here, but only the worst parts. I can’t speak to Highsmith, but the navel gazing […]
To have strings, like everyone else.
I thought that this book was going to be steeped in ’80’s music and culture which is totally in my wheelhouse. Some of the reviews that I had read indicated this. They were not accurate. I hate to use words like “okay” and “nice” but that sort of sums this one up. It really wasn’t what I was expecting, which is okay, but it circles around some pretty heavy themes in a way that is a bit too nice. CDs are trumping vinyl in the […]
Put up a barrier, she thought, and people gather.
My last review was of a book that everyone loved and I did not. This time around, I find myself surprised by the abundance of 2 1/2 star reviews for a book I thought was awesome. As far as Google can tell, this has not yet been reviewed by any Cannonballers so I feel it is my duty to set the record straight and hope that some of you give this one a go. I have read several Jo Baker novels, Longbourn being the favorite […]
Just don’t get it.
The premise of this book, and the great reviews of a lot of Cannonballers, placed this one on my TBR pile. A boarding school for “problematic children” serves as a refuge for kids that have found portals into alternate worlds. Having flourished in these different worlds, returning is painful for them. They don’t belong here anymore and long for the place where they can be themselves again. Unfortunately, the back story of each of the characters and the structure of these portal worlds into lands […]