Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Some Intriguing Potential, But I Felt So Little

By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham

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CBR11 Bingo Square: Rainbow Flag Truth be told, for the Rainbow Flag square I was hoping to read Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham (is the movie adaptation with Colin Farrell worth watching? I didn’t know this existed and well, Mr. Farrell is a big draw for me, I must admit), but sadly our local library didn’t have that novel. However, they DID have By Nightfall, and no matter the subject, Michael Cunningham is still LGBT+, and I DO have a […]

Engaging First Book of a Trilogy

Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson

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CBR11 Bingo: Own Voices Written by Eden Robinson, an Aboriginal Canadian Author of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations, I though Son of a Trickster would definitely fit the Own Voices Bingo square as it is a coming-of-age novel centered on an Aboriginal teenager in Kitimat, British Columbia, which leans solidly into some of the Haisla culture and beliefs, particularly those surrounding the trickster figure, Wee’jit. Our focus in this novel is a teenager Jared as he navigates the usual teenage social scene and dramas, […]

Hits all the high notes, and yet…

The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey

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This novel is a modern-day retelling of the story of Pandora (as the literal translation of the title ‘The Girl With All The Gifts’). A plague of fungus has wiped out most of humanity, hijacking the bodies of the infected and using them to spread the downfall further. Yet through the hopelessness emerges a group of children who have retained their humanity and intelligence, despite the infection. It is hypothesised that they may hold hope for the cure. They live wild on the streets of […]

Get your Wild Kratts here!

Wild Sea Creatures: Sharks, Whales and Dolphins by Kratt Brothers

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This is not your parents Kratt Brothers. Or more likely, your Kratt Brothers. Chris and Martin Kratt took their love of animals and nature and turned it into various television shows and books. Here in the Wild Kratts (based on one television series) the brothers, in their cartoon style illustrations, created a level two reader about the critters of the sea. Very basic information can be found in Wild Sea Creatures: Sharks, Whales and Dolphins. The aged aimed for (like many level twos, but not […]

Fun discovering new authors

Heroes and Villains by Lewis Shiner

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I love discovering new authors. A few months ago, I signed up for a grab bag of books from a publisher and this was included in the pack. I saved it until the end, as I was unfamiliar with the author, now I wish I would have moved it towards the top of the queue. Heroes and Villains is a collection of 4 short stories, all dealing with clear protagonists and adversaries. In some ways it reads like a classic comic book (and I mean […]

Will this be a review of this book or a review of my Episcopalian conversion? Stay tuned.

Jesus Was An Episcopalian (And You Can Be One Too!) by Rev. Chris Yaw

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There’s a lot to unpack here and most of it really isn’t about this book. I was raised Lutheran and turned out queer, which took me down Agnostic Avenue. I was also born and raised with an unfortunate penchant for self-loathing and perfectionism and never lost a deep-down belief in some kind of God. Enter a great big beautiful holy corrupt institutional enabler: the Catholic Church. And that’s how I became a queer adult convert to Catholicism. I felt something in the church I’d never […]



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