Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About MG Dietzel

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The loudest bookworm. Excited to be part of this lovely project.

MG Dietzel's Reviews:

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The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

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Did you love Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore? Do you love maps? Ok, you will very likely love The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd. Bear in mind though that it won’t *always* be the most logical book, so if you are the kind of person that is driven crazy by magically induced plotholes then it might not be for you. One of my favorite things about this book is that it was inspired by a true historical story about phantom settlements and how cartographers used them […]

Steel Magnolias but with a Vampire

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

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Strong southern women are no joke. But neither is the patriarchy and racism. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix will give you goosebumps and make you angry at racial injustice and stupid white men at the same time. Set in the 90s in South Caroline, each chapter title is a reference to a movie or true crime book from the last 50 years, so you will definitely come out of this book with some ideas for what to read or […]

New York I love you but you’re bringing me down

The City We Became by NK Jemisin

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The City We Became is a love song to New York and all its messy parts. I imagine (hope) that part of NK Jemisin’s writing process for this book was wandering around all the different boroughs of the city, watching and listening to people. It is the first book of a “Great Cities” trilogy, but since according to her bio Jemisin actually lives and works in Brooklyn I am curious if her other books are going to have this level of adoration for the cities […]

From the Plains of Texas to the Mountains of India

Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson

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The thing that I don’t think people who have not read Neal Stephenson understand about his writing is that it is pulpy and action packed. They see the size of a book like Termination Shock, read the description, and think—oh this is gonna be some heavy shit. And sure, he does go into multi-page digressions about whatever his current research obsession is, but that is also interspersed with plane crashes and people shooting boars out of helicopters. He starts Seven Eves with blowing up the […]

Echos of Proulx and Carver In Debut Short Story Collection

The Man With Eight Pairs of Legs by Leslie Kirk Campbell

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I didn’t know what to expect when I started the debut short story collection The Man With Eight Pairs of Legs by San Francisco author Leslie Kirk Campbell. One of the blurbs on the front from Anthony Doerr mentioned it was “sexy” and another said it reminded them of Carson McCullers so I was definitely intrigued. After finishing it I can say it delivered on the big promises of the blurbs, which isn’t always the case. The title story of a double amputee with eight […]

I have friends. I definitely have friends.

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

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Fiona and Jane was the first book I read in 2021 and even though that was just a month ago it already feels hazy. This is the way of January I suppose. It feels oddly appropriate that this book review be written with a bit of a haze, as that is kind of the vibe of the book itself. Two best friends sorting through their memories of twenty years or so of friendship dating all the way back to second grade. So this book has […]



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