Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About LB

CBR14 Participant
CBR15 Participant
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CBR17 Levels

A queer nonbinary reader living in the Midwest, LB practices their Adult Face by working in a lab, though they always have at least one book at hand for when they can steal a few minutes of quiet. LB reads across target age ranges and genres, focusing on enjoyment over how many books they finish. They have a black cat named Bruce Wayne who is very dedicated to sniffspections of books.

LB's Reviews:

Personhood in Sci-Fi

Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon

July 26, 2025 by LB Leave a Comment

Volatile Memory fulfills the “purple” square on CBR17 bingo. Generally speaking, I don’t consider myself a sci-fi reader, but Volatile Memory kept coming across my feeds because it’s sapphic and I finally gave into the promo, and I’m glad I did because this ended up being a really interesting story. I’d put it in the same conversations as books like Automatic Noodle and The Stars Too Fondly for the ways it explores transness and gender through presentation as well as whether memories make a person […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: cbr17bingo, gay, memory, novella, personhood, queer, sapphic, Seth haddon, trans, trans woman

LB's CBR17 Review No:16 · Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction · Tags: cbr17bingo, gay, memory, novella, personhood, queer, sapphic, Seth haddon, trans, trans woman ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Multigenerational missing girls and ripple effects

Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan

July 19, 2025 by LB Leave a Comment

Salt Bones fulfills the “family” square on CBR17 Bingo. Actual rating: 4.5 stars Salt Bones is a story of myth, which missing girls matter, and cycles of generational pain. I was really excited to read this based on the premise of Persephone and Demeter story through a Mexicali perspective, and this was great. There are so many different mother-daughter dynamics explored, and all of them dealing with different kinds of trauma. The Veracruz family seems to be cursed because twenty years ago Mal’s younger sister, […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Horror, Mystery Tagged With: abuse cw, cbr17bingo, Demeter, family secrets, folklore, Jennifer Givhan, La Siguanaba, Mexicali, missing daughters, Multigenerational, persephone, Persephone and Demeter, queer lit, sapphic, suicide cw

LB's CBR17 Review No:15 · Genres: Fiction, Horror, Mystery · Tags: abuse cw, cbr17bingo, Demeter, family secrets, folklore, Jennifer Givhan, La Siguanaba, Mexicali, missing daughters, Multigenerational, persephone, Persephone and Demeter, queer lit, sapphic, suicide cw ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
Cover of Songs for Ghosts bt Claire Kumagi

Folktales and cycles through history

Songs for Ghosts by Clara Kumagai

July 17, 2025 by LB Leave a Comment

Songs for Ghosts fulfills the “culture” square on CBR17 Bingo. Songs for Ghosts is a beautiful, tragic story of the power of stories and love, as well as the way past choices can create cycles throughout time. I’m unfamiliar with it, but in the afterword the author talks about Songs for Ghosts being a retelling of Madama Butterfly opera by Puccini where Cio-Cio-San has more agency than just the reductive submissive wife trope. Adam is a seventeen year old whose boyfriend just broke up with […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Horror, Young Adult Tagged With: achillean, biwa, cbr17bingo, Clara Kumagai, folklore, historical fiction, historical horror, japanese, Multicultural, Nagasaki, queer, songs for ghosts, sophomore novel, World War II

LB's CBR17 Review No:14 · Genres: Fiction, Horror, Young Adult · Tags: achillean, biwa, cbr17bingo, Clara Kumagai, folklore, historical fiction, historical horror, japanese, Multicultural, Nagasaki, queer, songs for ghosts, sophomore novel, World War II ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

A doozy of a book!

You Weren't Meant to be Human by Andrew Joseph White

July 15, 2025 by LB 2 Comments

You Weren’t Meant to be Human fulfills the “black” square on CBR17 Bingo I had Andrew Joseph White on my radar from his debut, but it wasn’t until Compound Fracture that I finally read one of his books. Even though most of his books haven’t exactly been for me, I have a special spot in my heart for Appalachia, and especially West Virigina because it will always be home. So when I saw AJW’s upcoming adult debut was set in WV, I knew I needed to […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Horror Tagged With: Aliens, Andrew Joseph White, austism, bodily autonomy, body horror, cbr17bingo, pregnancy, queer, trans, West Virginia, you weren't meant to be human

LB's CBR17 Review No:13 · Genres: Fiction, Horror · Tags: Aliens, Andrew Joseph White, austism, bodily autonomy, body horror, cbr17bingo, pregnancy, queer, trans, West Virginia, you weren't meant to be human ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

One of my favorite fantasies

The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri

July 15, 2025 by LB Leave a Comment

The Oleander Sword fulfills the “green” square on CBR17 Bingo. I read and reviewed this book for the first time back in 2022 and it still has me absolutely devastated and sitting here filled with feelings. Luckily this time around I have The Lotus Empire at hand and don’t have to wait to find out what happens next for Priya and Malini! The Oleander Sword takes place a year after The Jasmine Throne and is a story full of the ripple effects of war and […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: #fantasy, burning kingdoms, cbr17bingo, Indian fantasy, orbit publishing, queer, queer fantasy, sapphic, Tasha Suri, The Oleander Sword, tragic

LB's CBR17 Review No:12 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: #fantasy, burning kingdoms, cbr17bingo, Indian fantasy, orbit publishing, queer, queer fantasy, sapphic, Tasha Suri, The Oleander Sword, tragic ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
Cover of Christina C. Jones’s Inevitable Seductions

Sexy contemporary romance

Inevitable Seductions by Christina C. Jones

July 9, 2025 by LB Leave a Comment

Inevitable Seductions fulfills the “favorite” square on CBR17 Bingo. CCJ is one of my favorite authors and this year I’ve given myself the soft goal of reading her entire backlist, which admittedly is a feat when this woman has written nearly 100 books! I’ve mostly been reading via audio, and a good chunk of her catalogue is available via hoopla. Inevitable Seductions is one of her new-to-me books and I’ve made it up to her 2016 releases, and read more than 30 of her books […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fiction, Romance Tagged With: Black romance, cancer cw, cbr17bingo, ccj, Christina C. Jones, Contemporary Romance, Inevitable, inevitable seductions, pregnancy cw, Romance

LB's CBR17 Review No:11 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fiction, Romance · Tags: Black romance, cancer cw, cbr17bingo, ccj, Christina C. Jones, Contemporary Romance, Inevitable, inevitable seductions, pregnancy cw, Romance ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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Recent Comments

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