Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

We’re all mad here

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

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I never would have picked this on my own – it was a book club choice. On the other hand, it definitely wasn’t boring and it was short. Hungerstone was the other horror novel set in 19th century England I read in October, and I will say as bonkers as Victorian Psycho, I also preferred it because it just kept me engaged – like a train wreck(Hungerstone was just kind of boring). As much as the narrator’s actions might make you cringe, there’s also just […]

A little light on answers for my preferences

The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott

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This wasn’t quite the novel I was expecting – there isn’t anything inaccurate about the novel’s description but I was expecting a fun, fast paced fantasy/adventure novel and instead got more of dense road trip novel that was so slow paced it would almost be cozy if not for the dark subject matter. Elen is a courier in a sleepy town at the edge of the empire. Elen and her recently deceased sister Aoving settled there over a decade ago, along with Aoving’s son Kem, […]

Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair

Sun City by Tove Jansson

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Veering far afield from her native Finland, Jansson (of Moomin fame) writes of the denizens of St. Petersburg, Florida, and its retirement community.  They live in retirement hotels, within walking distance of the piers and parks, not to mention the Bounty.  Built as a full-scale replica for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty, it served as a tourist attraction connected with the St. Petersburg Museum of History from the mid-60s through the mid-80s, and its masts are easily viewed from the porches and verandas […]

Helping hands keeping stories alive

The Keeper of Stories by Caroline Kusin Pritchard

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The story within the pages of The Keeper of Stories by Caroline Kusin Pritchard and illustrator  Selina Alko is fairly simple. It is about the Jewish Theological Seminar library told in poetic language that tells from the start to the devastating fire in 1966. The publisher description says: When a fire breaks out at the Jewish Theological Seminary library, helping hands from across the community rally together to save the books and preserve the stories within the pages. Includes factual backmatter on the Jewish Theological […]

Allegory of power

Pigeons!: A Fable For Our Times by Marc Chalvin

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If I have one complaint about Pigeons!: A Fable For Our Times by Marc Chalvin (due December 2025, read via an oline reader) is that the people who need to read this book, won’t. This is the commentary about what is happening today. It comes out and tells us how the Dictator will use anything he can to stay in power. It comes out and tells us there are well meaning people, but they are missing a few pieces of the puzzle. And those who […]

To tell their stories

Home Is a Door We Carry by Constantin Satüpo

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Home Is a Door We Carry is a hard book to read, and not just because of the subject. There was a flowing issue for me. Things are simple and at times almost too simple for my personal tastes. Maybe different art could have enhanced my personal journey, but also I know that this is what author Constantin Satuppo needs to tell his story. Satupo is trying to give you the emotions of refugees (the voices of the children seen in the images) having to […]



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