Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Radicalize your reading through fairy tales

The Castle of Truth and Other Revolutionary Tales by Hermynia Zur Mühlen, Jack Zipes

Smack-Bam, or The Art of Governing Men: Political Fairy Tales of Édouard Laboulaye by Édouard Laboulaye, Jack Zipes

The Dragon Daughter and Other Lin Lan Fairy Tales by Juwen Zhang

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If you ask me “What’s the best thing about fairy tales?” my brain will combust. But in this very moment, I’ll say one of the best things is that there are so many forgotten or “undiscovered” tales to enjoy. In an effort to bring some forgotten folklorists to the forefront, fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes (my nerdiest old man crush) and Princeton University Press came together for a new-ish series called Oddly Modern Fairy Tales. Each volume concentrates on a writer or movement in fairy […]

A Blast from the Past

The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft

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I first read Lovecraft as a teen and was instantly smitten.  The Rats in the Wall?  OMG!  So creepy!  So it’s fun, lo these many years later, to read Lovecraft again, seeing a little more behind the curtain, as it were. But I was amused to find the setting of most of these sinister tales in this collection were in obscure bits of the mid-Atlantic states (not the standard setting of gothic tales of horror) such as upstate New York.  OK, I’ll give you Rip […]

Jackson and Irwin the Thylacine: Adventures! Mystery! Gross Foods!

Jackson's Wilder Adventures Volume 1 by Sarah Davidson

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Jackson’s Wilder Adventures Volume 1 by Sarah Davidson is probably my favorite book read this week. Or even this year. Now, granted it is not because it was some elaborate affair of great worldly writing, but because it was a simple book that was a great introduction for the science reader. This fantastic science book works for the younger reader aged 6 to young 9. You are exposed to a situation (“gross food” or “scared of moving”) and then how animals can have a similar […]

The Never Tell Collection

The Ghost Writer by Loreth Anne White

The Other Side of the Road by Andrea Bartz

Scorpions by Rachel Howzell Hall

Everywhere You Look by Liv Constantine

The Bad Friend by Caroline Kepnes

Jackrabbit Skin by Ivy Pochoda

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OK this whole Amazon Kindle and Audible collection is called “Never Tell”. It’s supposed to be about secrets, lies, and mind games. Sounds intriguing, right? Well some of these six stories were really good – like five stars good. And some of them were “but why?” mediocre. Like “I guess this story had to be told, but why?” I’ll rank them in order from five stars to “but why” (according to me of course). Grace Logan, a successful ghostwriter is lured in by a new […]

“I realized I didn’t want to carry them around for the rest of my life.”

Nude Model and Other Stories by Tsubasa Yamaguchi

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This is a very interesting and striking manga collection of three pretty dark short stories. I haven’t read the author’s other work, Blue Period, which is about a teenager discovering art in high school, but I had looked at it before and liked the art style, which convinced me to pick this up. Since it’s a standalone consisting of three short stories, I figured it would be a good insight into her style and I liked the striking cover a lot. I liked all three […]

Muuuurrrrrdeeeer

Women Who Kill by Sarah Tanat-Jones

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Women Who Kill by Sarah Tanat-Jones has its pros and cons. The biggest cons are the triggers. I took this from another review: use of the words ‘trans*xual’ and ‘transv*stite’ instead of transgender, mentions of rape & sexual abuse, violence, death.  Now I take issue with the use of death as it’s a book about women killers, and therefore, death is implied. However, it is the way that some deaths are mentioned or who the victims were that I am assuming they are referencing.  Afterall, […]



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