Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Jenny S

CBR 6
CBR 7
CBR 8
CBR 9
CBR10 participant
CBR11 participant
CBR12 participant
CBR13 participant
CBR15 Participant
CBR16 Participant

By day (and night really), I teach writing and help run a writing center at a community college in the Chicago suburbs. However, my superpowers include creating towering stacks of to-read books next to my bed.

Jenny S's Reviews:

The Next-to-Last Time I was Shot Out of a Cannon (and other often strangely fantastical stories)

Fly Already by Etgar Keret

by Leave a Comment

One of many things I like about my current book club is that the choosing of titles is a collaboration (involving initial nominations and then a round of voting) to determine our reads for the full year.  As a result, the books are a mix of things I have heard of (and want to read and/or have read) and books/authors that are totally unknown to me.  This book of short stories by Etgar Keret, an Israeli author, falls into the latter category. After the first […]

Reconstruction Reimagined

The Conductors by Nicole Glover

by Leave a Comment

I remember reading something about Nicole Glover’s novel before it came out and thinking, “That sounds funs.”  It did not disappoint.  The story is set in the Reconstruction of the 1870’s but this is a reimagining of historical events with magic as an important element.  Before the war, Hetty Rhodes, a former slave, was a conductor on the Underground Railroad using magic, smarts, and luck to bring other slaves north to freedom. Now that the Civil War has ended, Hetty and her husband, Benjy, are […]

Magical Realism and Baked Goods

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber

by Leave a Comment

As I come off of winter break and into the craziness of a new semester, I’ve been drawn to books that are a bit lighter in tone, to balance out the more serious stuff I’m reading for work.  I’m looking for things that go down easy and don’t tax my brain or require intense concentration.  Midnight at the Blackbird Café by Heather Webber provided just the mix of magical realism and baked goods that I needed. This novel tells the story of two daughters who […]

It Was Kind of Different So She Never Read it Again

The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal

by 4 Comments

Though I am not from Minnesota, I have spent some quality time living there—in college and then afterwards so reading this was both fun and a little nostalgic.  The small details, both comical and kind, are what really make these characters come alive.  Also, I was already missing spending quality time inside my town’s two local nano-breweries and this made me miss them even more (even as I drink their beverages at home). This novel tells the story of two sisters, Edith and Helen, whose […]

Be Yourself, The World Will Adjust

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

by 4 Comments

This trans coming-of-age story was a great way to jumpstart my reading in 2021.  It is the story of Felix Love, an aspiring artist who dreams of attending Brown University.  He and his best friend, Ezra Patel, attend St. Catherine’s, a private New York high school.  While Ezra’s family is insanely wealthy, Felix is a scholarship student who now lives in Harlem with his dad, who works multiple jobs to help pay for the remaining costs of Felix’s education. Felix’s dad has been very supportive […]

Getting Myself Ready for Stamped from the Beginning

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi

by 2 Comments

This review begins with a story. So more than two years ago, I heard Ibram X. Kendi talking on NPR about his book, Stamped from the Beginning, and I knew immediately that I wanted to read it.   About six months later I bought it but it has been sitting on my to-read pile ever since—mainly because it’s a bit intimidating at 608 pages with extremely small type, but also my to-read pile is large. Flash forward to late last summer and I heard Kendi on […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo