Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Romance Lost on Me

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

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I don’t do well with conventional romance novels; I don’t have much patience for personal drama among other reasons. For some reason though I’m usually ok with romantasy, and queer romances. I figured a Jane Austen riff should be safe; wrong. If you take away the manners and the romanticized culture/world, these people are terrible. There’s no one to really like. Not even the couples. You’re supposed to like at least one character in a romance, or least have a couple you hope gets things/themselves […]

If stealing from dragons is bad, what about stealing for them?

Never Steal from Dragons by Patrick Dugan

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Never Steal From Dragons is a fun cozy sci-fi/fantasy heist adventure. A lot of the expected tropes are present: a group of very highly skilled but very different individuals are forcibly assembled by a mysterious powerful individual who wants them to steal something in return for basically making their dreams come true; it is of course an offer that cannot be refused. Chaos, clever remarks, etc. ensues. In the world of Harmony, there are any number of beings recognizable from folklore including pixies, dragons, kitsune, […]

The first review of 2024 and it’s an odd one

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Poster Collection by Insomniac Games

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My first review of 2024 will be an odd one. It is a poster collection for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. I know of two cartoon movies about Miles Morales and that is it. Of course, I assumed there were graphic novels, books (as I had seen some for the juvenile level), video/computer games and mentions of him in other places. However, I was unfamiliar with anything else but the cartoons. However, on my first day back to work after my New Year long weekend (or […]

a thousand apologies and what feels like a thousand reviews (through November 2023)

Edinburgh by Alexander Chee

The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Kindred by Octavia E Butler

Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Hinumegin er mars by Sólrun Michelsen

Trust by Hernan Diaz

How Westminster Works . . . and Why It Doesn't by Ian Dunt

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class by Owen Jones

The Establishment: And How They Get Away with It by Owen Jones

In the Beginning was the Sea by Tomás González

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

The City & the City by China Miéville

A History of Burning by Janika Oza

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent by Dipo Faloyin

Passion Simple by Annie Ernaux

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Forget Me Not by Julie Soto

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller

The New Enclosure: The Appropriation of Public Land in Neoliberal Britain by Brett Christophers

The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray

Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon

A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas

Politics On the Edge: A Memoir From Within by Rory Stewart

Rivals by Katherine McGee

Reign by Katherine McGee

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

The Iliad by Homer, Emily Wilson

Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

10 Things that Never Happened by Alexis Hall

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

A Dangerous Kind of Lady by Mia Vincy

A Little Life by Hanya Yanighara

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

The Starting Over Game by girl_with_kaleidoscope_eyes

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Edinburg by Alexander Chee CBR15: Sex True fact, when someone British asked me what I was reading I pronounced this “Edin-BERG” and to their credit they didn’t laugh but instead asked, with some horrified sincerity, if that’s how Americans say it. It’s not! At least, not on purpose. It’s just how can the English language claim to have been invented in a country that seems to not have grasped even a shred of understanding of how the various letters in it work? I digress. This is […]

It’s a system designed to get rid of the best of us.

Rare and sweet as cherry wine by perchancetosleep

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“I can’t do this without him,” Ronan admits, his voice as rough and as hoarse as rusted nails. “I can’t lose him, too.” They don’t speak after that. Ronan breathes until it doesn’t hurt his lungs anymore, until he can’t feel new wetness sliding down his face, pooling underneath his chin. The ground is as cold and hard as ever. It will still be there when Ronan returns. And Adam will still be alive. If Ronan gives up hope, there’s no one left. Adam has […]

There are no distractions from you. You’re every idea I’ve ever had.

The Roots that Clutch by TheCryingClub

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The Roots that Clutch ― TheCryingClub (A Normal People AU) I’ve taken a liking to Hozier’s music lately and I can trace the origin back to when I read this fic for the first time. I think what keeps pulling me back to it, and what resonated with me in Normal People, is the feeling of bittersweetness that lingers, mellowing from a sharp pain to a dull throb. It’s this gorgeous aching that pulls my mind back to this story again and again. The title […]



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