Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

This story is “…not (about) my race, not the color of my skin, we’re talking about my economic class, my lack of privilege and my big ole brain.” But it is about race for privilege….and advantage and…. well you know

Chupacabra: Tales Of Blood & Ink by Matthew Medney, Kyle Faehnrich

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Chupacabra: Tales Of Blood & Ink by Matthew Medney, Kyle Faehnrich and editor Steve Orlando is a horror graphic novel for older readers. It has a strong aged 15/16 and up tone, but also reads quickly. The violence is not subtle, but not necessarily gratuitous either. Yet, there are places that sometimes went for the, “Ooooh-kaaay, what was that?” and “WHY was that?” It has a typical graphic novel/comic look. It is dark, crowded, sometimes the action blends in and can’t be easily “read” or […]

Great life advice about lighting things on fire

The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands

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CBR 16 Bingo – Disco (Free) “Tom raised his eyebrows. ‘Master Benedict keeps cannon fuse?’ ‘We use it to light things from far away,’ I said. ‘You know,’ Tom said, ‘things you have to light from far away probably shouldn’t be lit at all.’” I read this book a few years ago, and really enjoyed it then. I decided to reread it this year in an effort to reread all 5 books I had already read before reading the 6th which came out in 2023 […]

Who Wants to Be the Next Caliph?

American Caliph by Shahan Mufti

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Simmering political, religious, and racial tensions combine and erupt in three sieges led by the same strange Muslim group around Washington, DC after a years-long lead-up. I’m new to Washington DC, and still learning my way around the place as a city where people actually work and live divorced from the role that it plays in the United States’s government and politics. Part of that process has been learning more about the city’s history. Like with many things about DC, I had never heard of […]

The Dodgers Beat the Yankees? Where Have I Heard That Before?

Split Season 1981 by Jeff Katz

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As you may have heard, the Dodgers and Yankees recently met in the World Series, with the Dodgers ultimately prevailing. If you watched the games, you probably also heard that it was the first matchup between those two teams in the Fall Classic since 1981, when, coincidentally, the Dodgers also came out on top. Finally, you also likely heard about the recent passing of Fernando Valenzuela, who was the biggest star in baseball in 1981, winning both the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young […]

Hooray for Hollywood

The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger

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cbr16 bingo Fanfic Growing up in mid-century Palm Springs, summers could be long and boring (no pool).  TV options were very limited, but there was the mid-afternoon Million Dollar Movie.  That was my mom’s favorite thing to watch as she did the ironing (everything was cotton – there was a lot of ironing for a six-person family) so I would get sucked in too.  I can credit those summers with being familiar with all the actors in this book. This is a very detailed look […]

A little history–with many asides and jokes

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell

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Many months ago, I was getting ready for a short road trip to New Mexico and Texas, and I needed something to listen to. I’ve read a couple of history books by Sarah Vowell, and I enjoyed her take and irreverent style. When I saw, Lafayette in the Somewhat United States (2015) by Vowell, I decided to read it. Before reading this book, everything I knew about Lafayette was from Hamilton. In fact, I imagined Daveed Diggs, the original Lafayette from Hamilton, as I read this book. First, I […]



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