Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“every death is significant, even when every life appears not to be”

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

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I am exhausted: extremely jet-lagged and just submitted materials for my first major deadline of 2023. So what better to do than to review the last book I read in 2022 (finished at approximately 9:30 PM on New Year’s Eve, yes I know how to party), the Booker Prize-winning The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida? 2022 was actually my best year when it comes to attacking the Booker longlist; I read three of the nominees, and all of them were really excellent novels, in extremely divergent ways. […]

Nessie, Cannabis, and Maple Syrup time with Bernie Sanders

Feel The Bern by Andrew Shaffer

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Feel the Bern is basically mindless entertainment which is too bad in a way since it has a lot of potential. Once Joe Biden actually ran for and won the Presidency, I’m guessing the author didn’t see it practical to continue to Obama-Biden murder mysteries, so Bernie Sanders must have been the back up or the next best option. The murder mystery takes place when a not super popular community member is found dead, seemingly having drowned in a vat of the town’s main export, […]

This book was soooooo sad I couldn’t finish it

Cilka's Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz #2) by Heather Morris

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This book was so intensely heartbreaking. At one point I was listening to it walking around my neighborhood park sobbing. There are some less terrible moments, but they’re followed up with unending sadness and despair. My best friend recommended it to me, and it really is a well written book. I could not finish it though because it made me so freaking sad. She told me it was worth it and I should give it another try, so we’ll see if it makes it back […]

Come for Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace, stay for PAN (Practical Automaton Number One).

My Imaginary Mary (Mary, #2) by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows

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Still not as good as the first Lady Janie book. A lot of this made no sense, and anachronisms were flying around willy-nilly, but I had a good time. My Imaginary Mary is what you get when you mix light fantasy (there are fairies! and Mary Godwin (Shelley) is one! (different kind of fairy than you’d expect)), alternate history (what if Mary met Ada Lovelace?), and a truly ridiculous sensibility (they invent the name Peter Pan for some reason?) with egregious unconcern for historical accuracy. […]

More than a broken heart

The Faint f Heart by Kerilynn Wilson

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Due to a few bumps in the story arc of The Faint f Heart, but particularly due to the artwork, this book is a 4.5 (rounded up to 5). This is a love story to emotions and feelings. It has realistic, science-fiction and fantasy vibes but is all too likely to happen scenario, or at least is within reason. When you play with the heart, emotions happen, and Kerilynn Wilson explores what happens when people find a way to stop feeling those emotions.   June […]

Don’t read horror in the ER

Trance Book One by Joey Capuana

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Do not read horror in the ER. In my defense, Trance Book One has a colorful, awesome looking drag queen on the cover (and in my limited experience drag queens usually lend themselves to a thoughtful, but fun, time). I guess the witch/pentagram and the snake on the cover should have been a clue it was going to be spooky/graphic. But, again in my defense, I was reading on my tiny phone screen (reader copy form, final form due in mid/late May 2023) and could […]



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