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:

Hockey and love

Shenanigans by Sarina Bowen

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At this point I’ve read quite a number of books by Sarina Bowen, so it wasn’t hard to pick up Shenanigans (2022) as soon as it became available. Bowen has written romance novels on many different topics, but her hockey books are my favorite. Many of Bowen’s hockey books center around the fictional NHL team, the Brooklyn Bruisers, and Shenanigans is no different. In fact, the male protagonist, Neil Drake, is a player on the team. He also comes from a super rich family that makes swanky private jets […]

“If you see something, say something.”

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

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I cannot remember where I first saw The House in the Cerulean Sea (2021) by TJ Klune, but I may have been looking for available audiobooks at the library. It has primarily positive reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and I thought it might be a fun listen during my commute. In the end, I thought it was all right. I liked some parts, but on the whole it felt too long and I was not fully invested in the characters. My favorite part of the book was […]

Murder on the reservation

Yellow Bird by Sierra Crane Murdoch

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I first saw Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country (2020) by Sierra Crane Murdoch on NPR’s Best Books List. I was intrigued for a number of reasons. First, it takes place at Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. This past summer I spent some time exploring in North and South Dakota. It was a memorable experience, with such unique and harsh land and weather. I also drove through a reservation on my way home, and I wondered if I’d seen […]

Comics and exercising: the perfect combination

The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel

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I saw The Secret to Superhuman Strength (2021) by Alison Bechdel on NPR’s Best Books List and was immediately intrigued. I’d already read the graphic memoir, Fun House, by Bechdel, which I enjoyed, but this one seemed right up my alley. I have a hard time describing Bechdel’s graphic memoirs because they’re such an interesting mix of genres. You have the cartoon element, the deeply personal stories, and the mix of literature review and biography thrown in as well. In Superhuman Strength, Bechdel discusses a number of writers, including Ralph Waldo […]

“As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.”

All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

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A friend from my book club is constantly recommending science-fiction novels that I strongly dislike. It’s not that I hate science fiction, but it’s not my go-to genre, and she has honestly picked some very bad books. So when she recommended All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries (2017) by Martha Wells, I began it with more than a little trepidation. All Systems Red is a novella about a “Secunit,” basically a robot with some organic parts that is built and rented out to be used for security. The […]

Not enough development for a really satisfying romance

The Dating Playbook by Farrah Rochon

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The Dating Playbook (2021) by Farrah Rochon is another book I found on NPR’s Best Books List. This one was a romance novel featuring a football player and a fitness trainer. I thought it was all right, but I was a little disappointed. I liked the characters, but both the story and the characters never felt real enough for me to really care about them or their situation. Usually I gobble down romance novels in a day or two, but this one took a couple of weeks […]



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