Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Golden Shower

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

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**Trigger and Spoiler Warning** Do you like to read about dysfunctional mother/daughter relationships? How about childhood sexual abuse and rape? Parental neglect? Uncomfortable visits to the gynocologist? Spousal cheating and lying by the bucketload? Death by cancer? Ruthlessly rude and disrespectful teenagers? Marriage breakdowns? Drowning? Not just once, but twice? Lazy unresolved endings? How about 500 unnecessary references to urination – both public and private? Then BOY do I have the book for you! The Paper Palace tells the story of Elle and opens with […]

Great – And Get the Audio Version

Me vs Brain by Hayley Morris

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Best for: People who find their brain — and their heart, lungs, possibly uterus — talking to them. In a nutshell: Tik Tok comedian Hayley Morris shares how she’s dealt with intrusive thoughts and other life challenges with her signature wit. Worth quoting: So much made me giggle, but this was an audio book so I didn’t end up writing any down. Why I chose it: I follow her on Tik Tok and her shit is hilarious. What it left me feeling: Warm and fuzzy […]

An extremely thought provoking read, with an excellent audiobook.

Who Gets Believed? When the Truth Isn't Enough by Dina Nayeri

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Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio ARC. It hasn’t affected the content of my review. This is a book that many, many people right now could benefit from reading and thinking very hard about, and then reflecting extra super hard about their life choices. (I am not excluded from this!) I clicked “Request” on NetGalley for this one on an impulse, and I’m glad I did. The topic seemed interesting and relevant, and that turned out to very much be the case. […]

Truth and Memoir

Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala

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Best for: White people living in the UK; anyone who likes to suggest that there isn’t racism or classism in the UK. In a nutshell: Journalist and rapper Akala discusses racism and classism in the UK and the places it colonized set against the memoir of his life growing up as someone racialized as Black in the UK. Worth quoting: I listened to the audio book so no specific direct quotes, but I can say that I did take a lot of notes in my […]

“Just because not everyone gets you doesn’t mean you’re wrong.”

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

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Media reviews are subjective at the best of times, but some books will come to you at precisely the right or wrong time and any hope of objectivity is lost. This is one of those reviews. Plot: Nora is your classic urban bitch. She’s the antagonist in every romance, but especially small town romances. She’s the high maintenance, career driven woman with zero fucks and a killer manicure. There is only one thing outside of work Nora makes time for – her sister, and she’s […]

“If it works, it works!”

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps by Andrew Rowe

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While I have been a tabletop role playing game guy for about a decade, I was unaware of the literary role playing game (LitRPG) subgenre until earlier this year, when I found out friend’s son was publishing LitRPG books under a pen name (Exciting!) LitRPG is, I guess, kind of a narrative fiction in which characters level up like they would in an RPG. At first blush I was a little confused by this, because it seems like RPGs are often based on fantasy or […]



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