Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Love is like a good cup of coffee: strong, warm, and comforting”

Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee

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When Brenda’s internet quits on her just as an important scholarship deadline approaches (UCLA here we come! *fingers crossed*), her only recourse is the library. When that fails, she’s lucky enough to stumble into a local coffeeshop, replete with both wifi and Kat. Brenda falls for cool, confident, attractive Kat, who seems to actually want to listen to Brenda’s 19-step plan to save the world through the power of science and scholastic volunteer work. Meanwhile, Kat thinks Brenda is everything she didn’t know she needed; […]

I’m a djinni in a bottle, baby

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

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CBR Bingo: Work (the main character’s motivation is primarily just wanting to do her job as an investigator). I read P. Djèlí Clark’s The Dead Cat Tail Assassins earlier this year and enjoyed it enough that I wanted to read some of his other works, so I recently picked up A Master of Djinn. Set in an alternate-history (in the late 19th century, djinns were introduced into the world) Cairo in 1912, Agent Fatma works for a government agency that investigates supernatural occurrences. One evening, all […]

Sometimes a beautiful cover and a simple story are enough

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

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CBR 17 BINGO: Purple (see cover) Illustrated by Victoria Sawdon It’s been five years since the publication of Piranesi, and 21 years (!) since the release of the spellbinding Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, so I know I’m not the only fan who squealed with delight at the arrival of a new (tiny) book by Susanna Clarke. I love the existence of this book, but I must warn you up front that it’s a short story, and barely that. You can read it in 20 […]

‘The Idea Is, Even if I Do Explode, I’m Only Going to Be a Risk to Sheep’

Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch

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Been a while! I can’t believe that we are at now ten books into the Rivers of London series. This is another one of those urban fantasy-slash-detective series that I’ve been enjoying over the years. And like some of the others, Rivers of London has 1) experienced a bit of a gap between novels (three years) and 2) reached a bit of a pivotal point in the over-reaching narrative.  Let’s get the biggest thing out of the way first: Stone and Sky is a Rivers […]

hot take this utterly infuriating book that almost makes me want to join Phyllis Schlafly

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

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BINGO: Borrow, I got this from my library as I do most all of my books! hot take I’ll round up to three stars for this utterly infuriating book that almost makes me want to don a dress and join Phyllis Schlafly in protesting that women (vampires) they doth take too much I feel like one of the few people who were not enamored of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, probably because I didn’t get or see the love/hate relationship between Addie and Luc (the […]

Do you follow the Beast or your better angels?

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

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Cbr17bingo N Every time I read a Pratchett novel, I am just awestruck, dumbfounded by the way he could write so eloquently and with such warmth and humor about some of the nastiest parts of the human condition. Night Watch, originally published in 2002, really hit me hard because it is just so weirdly timely. I read and reviewed Guards! Guards! (the first of the Watch novels) last year, and I know that there are several other books in the Watch series before Night Watch. […]



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