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.

 

Aliens with doughnuts

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

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CBR square- Queer Lives. What a lovely, absorbing, moving book. I really loved Light From Uncommon Stars, the Hugo nominated book from Ryka Aoki. It’s about a transgender girl named Katrina who runs away from her abusive home and runs towards Shizuka Satomi, a woman who has made a bargain with a demon to bring seven souls to Hell in order for people to know her music again. She plays the violin and so does Katrina. Once she hears Katrina play she knows she is […]

And now I’ll be humming “Brazil” for the rest of the day

Dom Casmurro by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

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CBR15 BINGO: South America, because Machado de Assis is one of Brazil’s most famous and beloved writers Note: The version I read is a translation by Margaret Jill Costa and Robin Patterson, published in 2023. Note #2: Shout out to my husband, Peter, for recommending this author to me! One of the best things about CBR BINGO is that it prompts me to read books that might otherwise languish on my TBR, such as Dom Casmurro, by Joaquin Maria Machado de Assis. Checking back on […]

Trigger warning. Also, spoilers.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

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I don’t consider myself particularly well-read. I’ve never read Faulkner. Only read The Great Gatsby last year (or the year before, I don’t remember). I’ve read Hemingway once, and didn’t particularly like The Old Man and the Sea. I’ve never read Austen, or Waugh, or Virginia Woolf, or Pynchon, or countless other important literary figures. But I’ve long flirted with the idea of being comfortable with books enjoyed by well-educated people with posh British accents who casually insert French into everyday conversation. (For the record, […]

Blancaflor and all the sh*t wives have to do

Blancaflor, The Hero with Secret Powers: ​A Folktale from Latin America by Nadja Spiegelman and Sergio García Sánchez

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Blancaflor is a folktale with Spanish and Latin American roots from a category of folktales called “Girl helps the hero flee.”  High John the Conqueror is an African-American version you may have read in Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly. In this type of folktale, a man ends up being captured by a devil or magician, and has to complete a series of impossible tasks. But the devil/magician’s daughter falls for the hero, and helps him complete the tasks and escape with his life. TOON […]

Do you remember the 21st night of September?

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

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“See You Yesterday” by Rachel Lynn Solomon is a fun, original take on the classic “Groundhog Day” narrative. The story follows Barrett Bloom, a college freshman who’s looking for a fresh start after an intense high school experience. However, things take a wild turn when she finds herself trapped in a time loop on the first day of school. Together with Miles, a fellow time-loop victim, she sets out to find a way out of the loop while navigating the ups and downs of their […]

More Lady Killers, Please

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

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I am so excited about this book, y’all. I’ve been gushing about it in all my book-related chats since I started listening to it. I set it aside yesterday with about 80% finished because I wanted it to last just a little bit longer. It has been an exciting and fun escape during the awful end of summer break. A team of female assassins are set to retire and to celebrate, their employers “The Museum” have sent them on a fancy shmancy cruise. While sitting […]



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