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.

 

Do Fly – How to Take Off Creatively

Do Fly by Gavin Strange

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I first encountered the joy that is Gavin Strange during Adobe Max in 2021. I was inspired by Gavin’s talk – he spoke on how he created his success and was hired for his job at Aardman Animations as a designer and director. (Gavin also has his non-Aardman work at JamFactory.) What I found inspiring about Gavin is much of his knowledge of creative creation is self-taught. He urges us to not deny our urges to learn and discover. “The more you open yourself up […]

Ethical Murderers

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

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I picked up Scythe on a whim in a New Year’s sale – my local bookstore had a “Buy 2 Get 1 Free” table and I vaguely remember (it was a long time ago!) enjoying a previous book by the author, Neal Shusterman, so ended up picking this book as my “free” book. This was my first read of this year and also my first Cannonball read book review! I have been lurking for a while but decided to “take the plunge” this year (we’re […]

Wait. So now I have to read ‘Jane Eyre’?

Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste

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Reluctant Immortals opens with an opening line that is just … *chefs kiss*; “It’s almost sundown in Los Angeles, and Dracula’s ashes won’t shut up.” The book is set in 1967 California, splitting most of the action between Los Angeles and the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, with a few spots visited in between. It is the Summer of Love and also yet just another summer for Lucy Westnera and Bertha (Bea) Mason, who are the immortals of the book title. Lucy comes from the […]

“For what, for whom, must I kill and be killed?”

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

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The basics: Tolstoy’s War and Peace is the story of a few prominent Russian families around the period of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. Roughly, the first part is fancy dinners and balls as the Russian elite try to make sense of Alexander’s liberal policies and the role of Napoleon in Europe. The second part is about Napoleon’s military exploits in 1812-1813. The last part (roughly 20%) is the aftermath. Even though my version is 884 pages of small print, ultimately I found it fresh and […]

Fortunately They’re Cute, Too

Toddlers Are A**holes: It's Not Your Fault by Bunmi Laditan

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This is an easy book to breeze through. Its short length makes it great for  parents of young children. Bunmi Laditan addresses a number of issues than can come up with toddlers, such as  mealtimes, potty training, sleep, “Getting Your Toddler to Listen (LOL),” and the effect being a parent has on one’s sex life. Although Laditan brings up real issues, it’s important to note that this is not a real parenting book, nor is it meant to be. Laditan talks about toddlers and parenting […]

Slewfoot: the devil is in the details

Slewfoot by Brom

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mood music: me and the devil – Soap&Skin I had never heard of Brom and I was unfamiliar with his work before picking up this book. I found out about this book through TikTok and was intrigued by the premise, even if it was something that was outside of my usual reading genres. Slewfoot is set in colonial New England, a few years after the Salem Witch Trials. The protagonist, Abitha, is a young woman who is a fairly recent arrival to the colonies as […]



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