Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Sophia

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I love to read, and I love to learn. I wish I were retired so I could spend more time on my random hobbies!

Sophia's Reviews:

High school cliques and murder 25 years later

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

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I Have Some Questions For You (2023) by Rebecca Makkai is my second book by Makkai. My first one was The Great Believers which centers around the AIDS crisis in 1980’s Chicago. I hadn’t known what to expect, but I was blown away by the story and the characters. I don’t now how Makkai does it, but she makes me feel what the characters are feeling in a real, visceral way. I Have Some Questions For You is a very different story, but Makkai managed the same effect. Perhaps I naturally relate […]

Book 2 of Romantasy (with dragons)

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

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Iron Flame (2023) by Rebecca Yarros is the second book in the Empyrean Series. I recently read the first book, Fourth Wing, and found it pretty entertaining. It felt like a combination of Fifty Shades of Grey and The Hunger Games–but with dragons. The second book has a similar feel, but was not quite as good as the first. There will probably be spoilers ahead, so take care. Fourth Wing ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I was eager to start the second book and find out what was […]

“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.” –Montesquieu

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

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I picked up Chain-Gang All-Stars (2023) by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah because it was on a bunch of year-end lists and sounded interesting. In this book, American prisoners who are part of the CAPE program travel to different arenas around the country competing in death matches. The people who enjoy and/or profit from this program defend it because the prisoners are murderers themselves, and it was something the prisoners signed up for. It is gory and violent and makes some pointed commentary on America’s justice system and imprisonment. […]

Basketball and Clothes

Lucky Me by Rich Paul

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Lucky Me (2023) by Rich Paul was recommended to me by a friend–and as I do with many biographies–I listened to it on audiobook. Now, I have only recently been learning a little bit about basketball through my husband, but it is not a sport I have followed. That information is relevant because Rich Paul is a basketball agent. He represents LeBron James and a number of other very famous players. He is also in a serious relationship with Adele (maybe married?). Rich Paul grew up […]

Meryl Streep could have been a movie star

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

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After a very good experience listening to Tom Hanks read The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, I was ready for another. It just so happened that Tom Lake (2023) was on a number of Best Book Lists from 2023, so my next Patchett book was an easy decision. I think the author must have some pull with her narrators because the one and only Meryl Streep reads the Tom Lake audiobook, and it’s not surprising that she does a great job. I think it’s my favorite book by Ann Patchett. Lara […]

Memorable but not fun for me

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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I’d seen Yellowface (2023) by R.F. Kuang on various lists at the end of the year, which encouraged me to pick it up. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was still surprised. I’ve read a number of books where plots are stolen or authors pretend to be something they’re not, and this one felt nothing like them. In fact, it felt more like a horror story than a literary story. June Hayward is an aspiring author. She has published one book that did not […]



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