Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Ale

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I'm TAing in creative writing, and I'm in the midst of editing my first novel. Along with CBR, I have book reviews published with "The Literary Review," short essay with "Fiction Southeast" and a forthcoming publication with "The Book Smuggler's Den." CBR has definitely helped my writing skills since now I know what readers are looking for for in their works. So, thank you, CBR! Hopefully someday, we'll be able to review my novel on this blog. :) (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Ale's Quick Questions interview.)

Ale's Reviews:

“But How Do You Poop?”

Words of Radiance: Book 2 of the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson

by 1 Comment

While a book titled Words of Radiance feels like its review title should be something much more lofty, “But how do you poop?” was one of my favorite lines in this book because it was so awesome and unexpected. Sanderson’s greatest feat in a series like this is that he and the characters don’t take themselves too seriously. Yes, there are gut-wrenching, serious, dark moments, but Sanderson balances that with a bouncy levity that’s borderline Pratchett in its honesty. At one point, Shallan asks one of the […]

Beauty & Cruelty

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

by 2 Comments

After the herculean doorstop that was Brandon Sanderson’s Way of Kings, I needed a fast, fun, and gripping read. So I turned to Holly Black, whose Folk of the Air trilogy I gobbled up in about 72 hours over Thanksgiving break. The Darkest Part of the Forest did not disappoint, and I blew through it in a day. Written a few years before Folk of the Air, it was fun to see how Black was playing around with the themes and premises that she later expanded […]

Getting Back in the High Fantasy Game

The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson

by 7 Comments

I will preface this review by saying this kind of writing used to be my jam. I inhaled massive high fantasy series in high school and college, exclusively reading Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Mark Lawrence, Patrick Rothfuss,  and GRR Martin. But then I joined CBR and started reading more widely. I fell out of love with the war-heavy, white male centric doorstops and found a new home in magical realism and the glory of a one-book wonder. Aside from rereading Tolkien, I’ve had a hard […]

Ye Olde Childrearing

Ungovernable: The Victorian Parent's Guide to Raising Flawless Children by Therese O'Neill

by 3 Comments

I was a huge fan of O’Neill’s first book, Unmentionable, so when a friend sent along the link for her newest publication, I immediately ordered it from the library. Similar to Unmentionable, O’Neill tackles the crazy of the Victorian era with wit, sarcasm, and a dose of brutal honesty that both criticizes the dark parts of Victorian parenting culture while also contextualizing it in a way that makes it understandable, if not condonable. Where Unmentionable focused on sex, love, and marriage for young women, Ungovernable tackles the next stage […]

Old Wives Tales Vs. Science

Expect Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong, and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster

by 10 Comments

After much wondering if it was even possible, hubby and I are expecting. And while I’d done quite a bit of research on the process and probability of conception, I’d done virtually no research on what to do after you managed to succeed (mostly because I didn’t think we would). Days after my second positive test, I stared at the coffee pot, vaguely remembering my pregnant friends abstaining from caffeine, fish, deli meats and a hoard of other things. I stood in a first-trimester fatigue […]

“Those Words You Want to Say Right Now? Don’t Say Them.”

City of Thieves by David Benioff

by 3 Comments

Because I’m always a billion years behind popular culture, I had no idea that the David Benioff of the Game of Thrones TV show was also an author. And a good one! In applying for a freelance job that wanted an analytical summary of the first three chapters of City of Thieves, I was hooked and had to read the whole thing. I didn’t get the job, but I really enjoyed the novel. City of Thieves is a historical fiction surrounding the siege and starvation of […]



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