Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Featured Review Archive

These reviews, which were promoted in CBR social media, on our homepage, and in Pajiba Love, appear below by review publication date, not by date featured.

 

Who knew a book with “bleak” in the title could be so much fun? (with helpful charts!)

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

by 7 Comments

Bleak House has been brooding on my TBR list for years because, even though I’m a long-time Dickens fan, I was intimidated by the length and by what I perceived would be a weighty novel. I’m ecstatic that I overcame my hesitance, because this novel was more fun than a mariachi band on a roller coaster. Sure, about 9 people die, but you can’t make gruel without smashing a few oats, right? There are so many characters that the death toll amounts to maybe 12%, and […]

“You can’t know the weather in store, the size of the waves. All in this strange eventful history is uncertain.”

This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud

by Leave a Comment

I love a multigenerational family tale, one that sweeps across history and continents. And in that, this novel succeeds, with lovely writing, to boot. The story of the Cassar family is a fictional version of Messud’s own history, and hinges on the point at which her French Algerian family grapples with the history (and future) of colonialism around World War II. Messud’s own great grandfather wrote an in-depth family history, which would later take Messud (and her fictional counterpart within this novel) 20 years to […]

A Gentle Exploration of Getting Help With Your Mental Health In a Magical Setting

I Feel Awful, Thanks by Lara Pickle

by 1 Comment

After moving to London for her dream job making potions, young witch Joana seems to have it all.  She’s got a great group of friends and a lovely boyfriend.  Sure, her boss is a jerk, work is stressful, and figuring out housing is a pain, but really, she doesn’t have much to complain about.  Really.  Except exhaustion, sadness, and doubt take their toll, and Joana needs help to figure out how to take care of and accept herself. This is a graphic novel that I […]

The Book of Eight Summers Ago

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

by Leave a Comment

During one summer off while in college, I worked as a waiter in a tacky chain Mexican restaurant. And for the first two weeks, I was terrible at it. Just awful. Triage was impossible for me. I wouldn’t have lasted half-a-shift at the restaurant in this book. My manager was very encouraging but one of my co-workers just had it in for me. She berated me, belittled me, basically made my life hell because I was a lousy waiter. I eventually got better and by […]

An Excellent Heist

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

by 1 Comment

An Arthurian heist novel featuring a tea shop by day and a blood bar by night? I’m in, I’m hooked, let’s gooooo! Arthie Casimir owns Spindrift, the aforementioned tea shop, collecting secrets from the aristocracy while serving tea while also providing a safe haven for vampires and her ragtag band of orphans. She is infamous for literally pulling her pistol from a stone. Jin Casimir is her adopted brother and right hand man. All is going well for the dynamic duo until Spindrift is threatened […]

Return of King: Or how Merry got his groove back

Return of the King by JRR Tolkien

by 1 Comment

At last, we have reached the end of the trilogy. I won’t keep you on tenterhooks. My lukewarmest take is still that these books need brutal editing. These books are boring much more often than they are interesting. Still, you’re not here for warm takes. You’re here for hot takes, and I am here to deliver. I first owe Peter Jackson an apology, since Eowyn’s feminist cry was just in the last book rather than in Two Towers. But not a big apology. Tolkien seems […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo