Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Here comes the (fun) train wreck

Loonicorns V01 Bleary-Eye by Cedric Asna

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I probably should have realized that Loonicorns V01 Bleary-Eye was going to be a train wreck when I saw a cyclops, grumpy unicorn (I guessed it was a unicorn, the horn was a clue) and a girl with a horn. Yet, like wrecks in general, you just cannot look away. Or in this case, stop reading. After all, what was going on? At first, I was, “Nope. Jerky characters in a segregated system? Not my jam.” Still, there was something in Cedric Asna’s words that […]

I know someone who could have been here, do you?

The Degenerates by J. Albert Mann

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SPOILER included: The Degenerates is a slow story, that ends on a not happy note! I wanted my happy ending! I know it was not realistic to have one, but these characters all deserve one. With that said, this look set in 1928 and the way “others” are treated is interesting but does lack a little “something.” (Which is partially why I was wanting these characters to have a happy ending.) The afterwards was also interesting, putting things into context. While for at least 12-13 […]

Time to tell a tale

The Moon from Dehradun: A Story of Partition by Shirin Shamsi

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cbr14bingo Time Level 2      Picture book are interesting. If you have a fiction story, well, that can go into any format (picture book, novel, verse). But if you have a non-fiction story or based on a true story and/or event, a picture book is not always my “go to” thought for a subject.  After all, picture books are usually aimed at ages five to eight, therefore, how do you talk about the displacement of Indian and Pakistani peoples when the two peoples have […]

Probably should have given up the ghost

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

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cbr14bingo Minds Level 2  At first The Taking of Jake Livingston was enjoyable. There was enough familiar to make it comfortable, but new enough to not be the same-old-same-old. Even a couple of clichés could be forgiven for they did move the story along. Then there were the clichés that bogged it down. Then the ending (SPOILER) where our narrator walks away free of any consequences from his actions. What could have been something different turned into the same old thing. I was rooting for […]

If Mr. Fantastic and Captain Marvel were combined

Ms. Marvel, Volume One: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson

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cbr14bingo Series Level 1 She might be a superhero with pretty cool powers, but she is still 16 and has a curfew. I have read one other Ms. Marvel graphic novel/comic and was not totally impressed. I think that was because the character in the other book was a kid and Kamala in Ms. Marvel, Volume One: No Normal is a teenager, and somehow being a superhero is more believable to me if you are at least old enough to drive. I had no idea […]

When Good is Evil and Evil even worse

The Subtle Knife The Graphic Novel by Philip Pullman

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cbr14bingo Snake  Level two Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass is a dark read and The Subtle Knife is even darker. Therefore, when either is in a graphic novel format, you are not only reading the dark you are seeing the dark. In all its nasty glory. The theme of religion becomes more center stage, and the violence of all worlds comes to a bloody ending (and start and middle) in this adaptation by Stephane Melchior. The Subtle Knife is not an easy read, and the […]



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