Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Archives for December 2021

“It never occurred to me that you might be mine.”

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

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One of the prevailing bits of wisdom running around if you happen to find yourself with COVID (which I probably do – not to worry, I’m not feeling too poorly, have plenty of supplies, and have a test scheduled) is to avoid screens. With that in mind, and cognizant that my brain does not want to focus on anything weighty (which is seriously impinging on my ability to finish So You Want to Talk About Race and Eva Luna) I settled in on the couch […]

“Schizophrenia cannot be understood without understanding despair.” R.D. Laing

Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker

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I first saw Hidden Valley Ranch by Robert Kolker on NPR’s Best Books of 2020. I have three brothers and one of them has Schizophrenia. It has been crippling for both him and our family. Hidden Valley Ranch caught my eye because it is the true story of a family with twelve kids: ten boys and two girls. Six of the boys were diagnosed with Schizophrenia when they were young adults. This book describes the history of the family, beginning with Don and Mimi Galvin: how they grew up, how they met, […]

“how lucky, not having to live with the ache of saying goodbye”

How Lucky by Will Leitch

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My boyfriend read How Lucky (2021) by Will Leitch and then recommended it to me. After reading the description and first couple of pages, I decided I was interested. And I’m glad I read it. Not only was the book from the perspective of a person living with some pretty severe disabilities, but there is also mystery, suspense, friendship, and plenty of jokes Daniel lives in Athens, Georgia, home to the University of Georgia. He has been living with SMA, a progressive disease similar to ALS that […]

Sci fi/Fantasy/Short Fiction Wrap Up

Binary by Michael Crichton

Grave Descend by Michael Crichton

Tales of German Imagination by Various

Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls by Ann M Martin

Amazon Shorts by Rainbow Rowell; Suzanne Redfearn; Chimamanda Adichie; Chandler Baker

Southern Belle Insults by Keke Palmer; Jasmine Guillory

Nothing Like What I Imagined by Mindy Kaling

Currency by Jia Tolentino; Cristina Henriquez; Tom Perrotta; Curtis Sittenfeld; Yiyun Li; Justin Torres; Emma Cline; Kiley Reid

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Binary 2/5 Stars A thriller written by Michael Crichton in the early 1970s. Even though this is a John Lange book, it feels very much like a Michael Crichton book, and even more like an Ira Levin or Thomas Harris book. It’s a terrorist thriller wherein our protagonist is sent to spy on a known provocoteur who is making weird moves in his public and private experiences. What we come to understand is that he is planning to either kill a bunch of people, assassinate […]

“One human female, slightly rumpled and creased from a long time in storage. Expert pilot, trash at basically everything else.”

Cytonic (Skyward, #3) by Brandon Sanderson

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How many left turns can one book series take? Not that I’m complaining. I wish book four was right now. And will I finally give five stars to a book in this series? I guess I will find out by the time I finish writing this review. (You are already aware if you are reading this right now. Writing is like time travel!) This is book three in Sanderson’s YA sci-fi/space opera series, Skyward. I liked the first book just fine, but book two, and […]

“At the end of our conversation she (Martha Stout) turned to address you, the reader. She said if you’re beginning to feel worried that you may be a psychopath, if you recognize some of those traits in yourself, if you’re feeling a creeping anxiety about it, that means you are not one.”

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson

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To be honest with you, this review will most likely not be worth a hill of beans. This is a saying my mother uses and I’m just thinking right now that I have no idea what it actually means, or why she says it. Beans have a lot of nutritional value and can be quite tasty. Or does it mean that the beans are worth a lot and whatever you’re comparing this fictional hill to is worth less? This also makes no sense because why […]



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