Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Camelot Was Always a Lie

Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan

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CBR16 Bingo: Golden – Callahan attacks the golden myth of Camelot and the Kennedy family, revealing the dark and dangerous truth underneath. Lurking in the darker corners of the Kennedy family legacy are the many women whose lives turned out worse for the association. In this book, Maureen Callahan tries to bring them to light. I’m familiar with many of the people and stories in this book, but Callahan does an excellent job of placing them in context of each other, weaving across generations and decades to […]

“What would happen if we spoke the truth?”

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic had been on my to read for a bit as one of the more visible challenged and banned books since its publication in 2006  (31st most challenged  in the decade 2010-2019 according to the ALA) that I hadn’t gotten to yet, but moved higher up as it was challenged locally to me twice since 2020 (it’s been retained both times). So, it found its way to my September reading as my personal choice for Banned Books Week 2024.   As […]

July-August 2024 Leftovers

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney

Confucius for Christians: What and Ancient Chinese Worldview Can Teach Us about Life in Christ by Greg A. Ten Elshof

Lucky At Cards by Lawrence Block

A Dance at the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block

Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK by Gerald Posner

Doing the Devil's Work by Bill Loehfelm

The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Leta McCullough Seletzky

The Third Bullet by Stephen Hunter

Burning Angel by James Lee Burke

The Queen City Detective Agency by Snowden Wright

Poetic Justice by Andrea J. Johnson

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Because I’ve been posting most of my reviews due to Bingo, I haven’t kept up with the leftover ones until now. Hope everyone had  a good summer. It’s my least favorite time of year but this one wasn’t so bad. Heartsick***: I took this book too seriously when I tried to read it the first time. I relaxed and enjoyed the ride the second. Goofy fun, nothing more. Brief Answers to the Big Questions****: I do enjoy listening to Hawking’s desire to push the boundaries […]

Censorship sucks!

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

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I saw a TikTok where the author of a book had stitched a meeting of a local school board. They were proposing to ban the book because of foul language and depictions of drug abuse. This is a YA autobiographical graphic novel of the author’s life through the end of high school. The author is also the illustrator. It starts with depictions of him as a child having nightmares; seeing his mother with several men; and, spending his night on the floor outside her room. […]

I like picture books 2

In Praise of Mystery by Ada Limón

Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills by Billy Mills and Donna Janell Bowman

It's Fall! (Celebrate the Seasons #1) by Renee Kurilla

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The only issue with picture books is that if you try to write a full review for each individual book it is hard to do. After all, you’re trying to write a 250 word review for a book that might have 50 pages and 200 words. But, that’s why a good Picture Book Roundup is a great way to find books for you to peruse!  Written by Ada Limón and illustrated by Peter Sís, In Praise of Mystery is a romantic and poetic book about […]

Long title, short life, but what an impact

Remembering Rosalind Franklin: Rosalind Franklin & the Discovery of the Double Helix Structure of DNA by Tanya Lee Stone

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The title of the book Remembering Rosalind Franklin: Rosalind Franklin & the Discovery of the Double Helix Structure of DNA  says pretty much everything you need to know about this author Tanya Lee Stone and illustrator Gretchen Ellen Powers book. But of course, there is more and I need to write a longer review! I read this via an online reader copy, though it came out in February of 2024. Which I think is a little appropriate. This scientist is not well known due to […]



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