Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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I'm baaaaaack (missed y'all!) (Learn more about this Cannonballer: badkittyuno's Quick Questions interview.)

badkittyuno's Reviews:

This is a book about a teenage girl planning her suicide. It’s a tough book to read so beware.

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

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The further I get into my reviews for the year, the more I realize just how much YA I read! This is another example of just how very grown up YA can be. When I was an actual young adult, I was reading Stephen King and Dean Koontz and Robin Cooke. Now that I’m an adult adult, I wonder if YA was this good in the 90s. If not, well…you youths better be grateful. “Anyone who has actually been that sad can tell you that there’s […]

“I wipe away my tears and nod, because the pain in my leg is nothing compare to the one in my heart.”

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

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Earlier in the year, I read Van Draanen’s Wild Bird, which is still probably one of the best novels I picked up this year. I immediately sought out more of her work, devoured The Running Dream and then…stopped posting reviews for 2 months (oops). But it’s never too late, and I want to recommend this one to y’all. I feel like it’s aimed at a slightly younger audience than Wild Bird, but that in no way diminishes it. Van Draanen tells us another story about a struggling […]

Paul Tremblay is a weird dude but I’m here for it!

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

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You know those over-sized costume masks that look like a baby’s head? Like what Hazel and Cha Cha wear in Umbrella Academy. This story is the literary equivalent to one of those masks. You’re looking at something that should seem sweet and innocent but instead it makes you feel nervous and afraid. “No matter how bleak or dire, end-of-the-world scenarios appeal to us because we take meaning from the end… there’s also undeniable allure to witnessing the beginning of the end and perishing alone with everyone […]

“If the story doesn’t end with marriage or a child, what then?”

No One Tells You This by Glynnis MacNicol

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Glynnis MacNicol uses No One Tells You This to explore what it’s like being 40 in a society that tells women there’s only one way to do things: get married and have babies. Maybe you can go to school or have a job but — don’t let it interfere with marriage and babies. So if she’s unmarried and not a mother, then what does that make MacNicol? Well, a damn good writer and story-teller for sure. I mean look at that cover. Don’t you want […]

Sometimes YA seems so grown up

After Zero by Christina Collins

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“It’s amazing how few words a person can get by with.” Have you ever said something that embarrassed you so badly you want the ground to swallow you? This book examines the very extreme of that anxiety we’ve all felt, through the eyes of Elise. She’s previously been home-schooled, but now she’s at public school and it’s not going well. To cope, she does not speak. To anyone. She’s keeping a tally of words per day. Sometimes it’s 6, sometimes it’s 2. She’s trying to get […]

I can’t believe how many of these things I’ve said to my kids

Because I Said So! : The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids by Ken Jennings

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Yes, that Ken Jennings — who won all those Jeopardy! episodes and has apparently written quite a few  books. He wrote this book to debunk the many, many myths we grew up hearing from parents, teachers, and other adults who were probably okay with lying a little bit in order to get us to behave. In fact, even after reading that sitting too close to the TV will NOT destroy your eyeballs, I’m still going to tell my kids that it does because I hate […]



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