Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Bad-a$$ gals

The Girl Who Changed Little League: The True Story of Maria Pepe and Her Battle to Play Ball. by Maria Pepe with Jean L. S. Patrick

Sparrow Loves Reptiles by Murry Burgess and Tamisha Anthony

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Girls are bad-a$$ in ways they might not know. And Maria Pepe did not really know it, she just knew she wanted to play Little League. But the powers that be said girls can’t play. Yet, Maria was not going to let herself be stopped. And Pepe with Jean L. S. Patrick showed how this could be done in The Girl Who Changed Little League: The True Story of Maria Pepe and Her Battle to Play Ball. The story is simple: Girl loves baseball. Girl […]

Who’s the GOAT?

Messi vs. Ronaldo by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg

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I’ve read two other books by Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg: The Club, which was about the English Premier League, and The Formula, about Formula 1. I’m a novice football fan and I don’t follow racing of any kind at all, but in each case, Robinson and Clegg did such a great job elucidating the human stories behind these behemoths of the sports world that my lack of knowledge in both cases and my lack of interest in one couldn’t have […]

“Why do I have to be nice when most of the men aren’t?” (double Bingo)

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Nowhere Bingo 25: A book about sport CBR17 Bingo: Play (tennis) Official plot summary (finished the book in August): Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her […]

The National Pastime in a Past Time

Electric October by Kevin Cook

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If the 1947 World Series had been an uneventful contest, it still would have held two historic distinctions. Most importantly, it was the first World Series featuring black players. Rookie of the Year Jackie Robinson was a big reason the Brooklyn Dodgers won the pennant. (The Dodgers also had a second Black player, Dan Bankhead, but he had been an ineffective relief pitcher late in the season and was only used as a pinch-runner in the World Series.) Secondly, it was the first World Series […]

The Cutting Edge and Daisy Jones with edge

The Favorites by Layne Fargo

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Bingo: Play (for the sports angle since ice dancing, though everyone is very serious about it) (Bingo #6, 2nd row complete) This novel came on my radar last year on one of those anticipated novels of 2025 because of the description, and I checked out the author’s They Never Learn as a result while waiting for this one – I liked that one quite a bit but didn’t love it. Finally picked this one up – if you love The Cutting Edge, Daisy Jones and […]

Football Season

One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller

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Read as part of cbr17bingo: school setting. The book takes place mostly at a high school, revolving around a football team.  In reading about the lives of trans people, fictional and otherwise, the thing they want most is to be treated normally. Obviously, it’s difficult to do on the one hand with the whole country lurching from mild acceptance of trans people to full-on hostility against them. But it’s also difficult when dealing with the well-intentioned, supportive ally crowd who just wants to let them […]



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