Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”

The Terminal List by Jack Carr

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I mentioned to a friend that I was entering the Dad Books/Daddington Island* phase of my reading life (thrillers, history, etc.). A few days later, that friend handed me a stack of Jack Carr books. You may be remember the Amazon Prime series based on the book – a Navy SEAL named Jack Reece comes comes home from a bad mission, bad stuff happens, and he has some vengeance to attend to. That’s the gist of the plot. No surprise – the book is better […]

A Meh Sci-Fi Thriller That Disappoints

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

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The most I can say for this is it’s a fast read. Honestly, I can barely remember anything about the plot beyond me being mad I was continuing to read it because I knew I was close to being done and could just power through. The pull quotes on the back are from such big authors — Harlan Coben, Lee Child, Andy Weir, Justin Cronin — that I was expecting a pretty groundbreaking sci-fi thriller, but I wasn’t impressed. It moves quickly but maybe I’ve […]

“Letting someone help you is the nicest thing you can do for anyone.”

How Lucky by Will Leitch

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A crime novel that is funny and not only features a disabled character, but makes him the hero. Plot: Daniel feels incredibly lucky. He has a stable job, enough money to make ends meet, close friends, and the relentless good weather of Georgia. He should also have been dead for a good decade or more, because he was diagnosed with type 2 spinal muscular atrophy as a baby, a degenerative illness that kills many of its victims before they even hit puberty, while he’s still […]

Pregnancy Blues

Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott

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First and foremost: if pregnancy and/or pregnancy loss triggers you in any way, give this one a hard pass. The best thing that can be said about Beware the Woman — another great tale from the great Megan Abbott — is that you can easily classify it in multiple genres. Domestic suspense, noir, even horror. This is definitely a book about body horror and the horror of women living under the shadow of patriarchal violence. It is so many things but most of all, it’s a helluva […]

The Amazing John “The Kid” Constantine will pull a magic trick out of his sleeve, or destroy the world. Whichever comes first.

The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher: A Johnny Constantine Graphic Novel by Ryan North

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Do you like DC comics for the pre-teen to teen level? Then you might like The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher: A Johnny Constantine Graphic Novel by Ryan North, with Derek Charm as the illustrator. It is a fun story with a few magical twists, and how middle school/boarding school can be a real killer. This is a superhero story with an overconfident protagonist, and with a lot of magic. We follow John “The Kid” Constantine, as a middle school student, who gets into some trouble […]

Ding-dong, the witch is dead.

Mamo by Sas Milledge

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A recent Wednesday of no sleep saw me not feeling well on Thursday. Taking the mental health day, I slept, and when I woke up it was too late to work, so I read. One of the books I would read that Thursday was Mamo by Sas Milledge.  This book has an odd feeling to it, or at least to me. I was picking up Scandinavian vibes to the landscape and with most of the people we see. But our main character looks like they […]



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