Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About ElCicco

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Married, mom of two, history PhD, feminist. I've been participating in Cannonball Read since CBR4. I love to read, and writing reviews keeps me from reading without thinking. I feel like I owe it to the authors who entertain me to savor their creations. It's like slowing down and enjoying a delicious meal instead of bolting your food. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: ElCicco's Quick Questions interview.)

ElCicco's Reviews:

I was kind of lost, too

Superman: Lost by Christopher Priest

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This was another Kareem Abdul-Jabbar pick and while I liked it, I did not find it as compelling as Famous Last Words. Superman: Lost is a graphic novel that involves time travel, PTSD, despair and hope. It is a commentary on our current political climate but also a reflection on our responsibility toward others and the duty to help those in danger, even when our help is unwanted. The story opens with Superman and the members of the Justice League going on a mission. Clark […]

The anger is palpable, but so is the sorrow

All My Rage: A Novel by Sabaa Tahir

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This YA novel was published in 2022 and won a National Book Award. It contains many difficult themes and triggers, including: racism, physical abuse, drug use/addiction/overdose, trauma, death and grief, The main characters/narrators in All My Rage are Noor, Salahudin and his mother Misbah. They live in a small desert community in Juniper California, near a military base that employs many in the town. Noor and Salahudin are high school seniors who have been friends since they were little, but when the story opens, near […]

A surprising and honest view of a courtesan’s life

A Woman of Pleasure: A Novel by Kiyoko Murata

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This novel was first published in Japan in 2013. The English translation by Juliet Winters Carpenter came out in 2024. A Woman of Pleasure is a novel based on real events that happened in Japan in 1903 when prostitutes organized for their rights. It is a fascinating novel that reveals the personal journey of its main character, Ichi, a 15-year-old girl recently sold into prostitution. But the novel also provides a lot of terribly interesting information about licensed prostitution and its place in Japanese society […]

“…a person can be more whole with broken parts.”

The Djinn Waits A Hundred Years: A Novel by Shubnum Khan

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  The Djinn Waits A Hundred Years is a ghost story, featuring a haunted house in Natal, South Africa. The house itself, called Akbar Manzil, has its own character and memories, and it is full of people who are likewise haunted by the ghosts of their pasts. This novel involves a love story set in the early 20th century as well as a coming of age story for 15-year old Sana Malek who has come with her father to live in Akbar Manzil 80+ years […]

A Thrill Ride From Start to Finish

Famous Last Words: A Novel by Gillian McAllister

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Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister is a suspenseful, thriller/mystery that had me hooked from page one. I hated to put it down and finished it within two days. I had heard about it from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s substack, a great place to go for book, TV, and movie recommendations. This story involves hostages, murder and the joy of reading, and involves very interesting main characters who struggle with the aftermath of a traumatic event. Camilla is a book editor who loves her job. There’s nothing […]

You know it’s good if they don’t want you to read it

Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink

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Angel of Greenwood is an outstanding YA novel about teenaged love and community set against the backdrop of the 1921 Greenwood Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Greenwood, the “Black Wall Street”, was wiped out in a vicious act of race-based terrorism with businesses looted and destroyed, houses burned to the ground and an actual bomb dropped on the community. This novel came to my attention because a local school district removed it from the 9th grade reading list, sparking protest from students, their parents and faculty. […]



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