Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Story ARC

Death Comes Too Late by Charles Ardai

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I received an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.  I love Hard Case Crime novels. I do not always love short story collections. Short stories are fine for what they are: brief and occasionally visceral peaks into the window of whatever context they are examining. I prefer a long, drawn out tale to sink my teeth into, but I do appreciate those who can move an entertain with a limited scope. Given that the best noirs rely on sparseness, […]

The Snail, the Pumpkin and the Squash

Stories of the Islands by Clar Angkasa

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Three gorgeously illustrated, feminist-twist folktales, myths, stories are included in Stories of the Islands by Clar Angkasa (Clar pronounced like Clark without the k) based their stories on the ones of their childhood, adding what might not seem at first “girl power” but will become that, to each one. There are some mature themes (the giant wants to eat the girl, the father is abusive to his daughters, a village thinks that a woman who is single with no children is odd and tells her […]

The Human Part of War

PEREMOHA: Victory for Ukraine (Nepemora) by TokyoPop and others

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“Written and illustrated by Ukrainian creators” these idealistic stories within PEREMOHA: Victory for Ukraine (Nepemora) show the strength of the little person and how the horrors of war unfold. The stories follow the civilians and soldiers front and center. There are war images, some language (though some is “bleeped out”) and just the idea of war could be triggers, however, overall, things are well done and not graphic for graphic sake. Most of the action happened in 2022 so it has become a piece of […]

A romantic memoir about the idea of love

The Visitor (The One #5) by Dodai Stewart

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“The Visitor” is a true story from journalist Dodai Stewart. On NYE, I stumbled upon it looking for something quick to hit my book goal. Once I began, I realized I’d rather savor it. I finished the audiobook while walking my pup on New Year’s Day. The story is a poignant musing on the idea of love. She explains how she grew up in New York. She loves how cinematic living in the city can be. Everything seems full of promise and glamor, especially when […]

“It turned out that some crooked things looked even worse when straightened. Some tangled knots only made sense once unraveled.”

Wool by Hugh Howey

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I know it’s only January 20th so this is a bold claim, but Wool is going to be on my top 10 list of books I read in 2024. This novel started as a standalone short story “Holston,” but upon its publication and soaring popularity, Howey wrote four more stories that have now been bound together in this first volume. And it gripped me from page one through the very end. This is exactly the kind of book that I love to read in winter, […]

Might have found my worst of the year with my first of the year

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

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1.5 stars Warning! This review will contain spoilers, because after my book club discussion yesterday, I’m actually quite cranky about this book, and it’s impossible for me to rant properly if I can’t spoil the heck out of these stories. Don’t worry, you don’t really want to read this book anyway. Also, most of the spoilers are only visible if you go to my blog. In a small, dark basement café in Japan, visitors can travel briefly back in time, if they observe a series […]



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