Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“It was lunacy, this idea, that I could sleep myself into a new life. Preposterous. But there I was, approaching the depths of my journey”

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

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This was such a strange little book! I think I liked it? But maybe I didn’t fully understand it – or at least what it was trying to do? Our unnamed narrator seemingly has it all – she’s pretty, thin, Columbia grad, and wealthy enough that she doesn’t really need her job at a hot art gallery. Which last is probably for the best, because sleep is taking over her life. She can’t seem to shake the idea that if she could only sleep – […]

“I am a bad Mother, but I am learning to be good.”

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

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I finished this book several days ago, but I feel like I might need even more time to fully digest it. I think this review is going to be difficult to write, just because I’m still sorting through all of the feelings that the book brought up. Frida Liu is a struggling single mother, living in the near future in Philadelphia. She gave up her career to have her baby, Harriet. When her husband, Gust, leaves her shortly after Harriet’s birth, Frida is forced to […]

This series should have been two big books instead of four smaller ones.

City of Dragons (The Rain Wild Chronicles, #3) by Robin Hobb

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2 Book 7/30 This ended just as it was getting going! I understand that there were publishing issues, and logistical things to consider in terms of ballooning page length on this one, but if I were her publishers, I would have just let her turn in one gigantic book late than split the book in two, to its detriment, just so they could publish on time. This is not a full story, and it starts out slow in the […]

The Pandemic mystery that got me out of my thriller slump

56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard

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I have been deeply disappointed by the last handful of thrillers I’ve read. It seems like each one has some over the top plot twist or framing device designed to make the author look super clever and creative, but actually just gets my eyes rolling so far back I give myself a headache (see Survive the Night or All I Want). But, I needed something light after finishing How the Word Is Passed, 56 Days was available on Libby, and multiple coworkers raved about it. […]

Komodo dragon fascinators!!

Four Aunties and a Wedding (Aunties, #2) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2 Book 2/30 A more than worthy follow-up to Dial A For Aunties, which was one of my favorite reads last year (and favorite audiobooks; Risa Mei is a great narrator). If you liked Meddy and the Aunties the first time, you will like them here as well. I keep seeing people describe these books as cozy mysteries, but they’re not, at all. Cozy mysteries are a very specific thing, and I wouldn’t describe this as one, despite aspects […]

Just keep swimming

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World by William McRaven

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I went to the University of Texas, so Admiral Bill McRaven’s 2014 commencement speech “If you want to change the world, make your bed,” has a special place in my burnt orange heart. But the speech has a ton of important and practical life advice applicable to anyone. You can grab an idea or short story to focus on in any given day and it will help you. This short book is based on his speech – a little more fleshed out and with some […]



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