Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Alice in a wonderland

Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

by Leave a Comment

I thought I’d been listening to Kristin Hannah’s latest novel, Magic Hour, but now that I’m writing the review, I just realized it was written back in 2006–so, almost twenty years ago and definitely not her latest novel. I’m a little late to this party. I’ve read a number of Hannah’s novels. Some of them I’ve really liked, and others I’ve found too contrived and I got annoyed. I was immediately drawn into this one, though, and I’m glad I read it. A young, malnourished girl wanders into […]

Kind of like Jane Eyre but not really

The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden

by Leave a Comment

I needed a book to listen to for my commute, and I needed it immediately. Somehow, The Wife Upstairs (2020) by Freida McFadden grabbed my eye when I searched available audio books at my library. I was not familiar with McFadden, but she has written a large number of successful thrillers, and she seems to have quite a following. Sylvia Robinson is not in a good place in her life when the book begins. She has just lost her job after being unfairly accused of stealing, she […]

“I have just drawn my weapon and killed a Coke machine, sir.” CBRBINGO – Green (BINGO!)

The Tommyknockers by Stephen King

by 2 Comments

According to many Constant Readers, this is Uncle Stevie’s worst book, but I don’t agree! It is extremely flawed, but I also found it very readable (it probably helped that Edward Herrmann narrates the audiobook, and he is a wonderful audiobook narrator). This is sci-fi horror. A woman named Bobbie, a writer of western novels, finds a buried object in the ground and becomes obsessed with unearthing it. Doing so changes her and the town she lives in forever, and in really really creepy ways. […]

A boy named Henry

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

by 2 Comments

CBR17Bingo: “Borders” – because even though bacteria do not respect borders, whether you contract or can fight off tuberculosis depends primarily on where you live. I know tuberculosis still exists in the United States because many years ago I had a patient cough in my face and later found out she suffered from tuberculosis. I knew just enough to be kind of concerned until I got tested and was negative. My only other knowledge of tuberculosis is that Doc Holliday suffered from it in Tombstone. It […]

It started out well

First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison

by Leave a Comment

I found First-Time Caller (2025) by B.K. Borison on my library’s list of popular and available audio books. This one sounded cute and I started it with high hopes. And it started out really well. Unfortunately, I kind of lost interest in the middle and the end of the book. It wasn’t bad, but the characters didn’t seem real, and I didn’t find it very romantic. Aiden Valentine is the host of Heartstrings, a call-in radio show where he dispenses relationship advice. Although he’s not really qualified for […]

“If a book is well-written, I always find it too short”

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

by Leave a Comment

4.5 stars CBR17 Bingo: Black (a book with a black cover) I had completely forgotten that I read and reviewed this book back in 2016. My original review can be found here. My plot summary of the more than 200-year-old novel can be found in my previous review. Nevertheless, my reading experience this time around was different enough from earlier times that I wanted to write about some of my thoughts and observations, not to mention some of the points of discussion that came up during my […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo