Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

When Life was bored, Death took a holiday

Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis by Dave Maass, Patrick Lay, Ezra Rose and Richard Bruning

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Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis by Dave Maass, Patrick Lay, Ezra Rose and  Richard Bruning, is a lofty graphic novel undertaking. Over the top. Beautiful and Ugly. It is not an allegory of the Holocaust, but its roots are there. This is a story of how the General Overall  takes with his War. It is fiction, and it is history. It is the past, present and future. Bored, flamboyant Life wants something to happen to stop their boredom. And Death gives it. They are […]

Harley’s Boys…er… Hyenas

Harley Quinn's Bud and Lou: Trouble Times Two by Ben Hed

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The title, Harley Quinn’s Bud and Lou: Trouble Times Two by Ben Hed is exactly what you expect from a hero/villain comic/graphic novel, and that makes this a fun read. It is comforting, and yes, it is cheesy and goofy and has way bad puns, but I want more of Bud and Lou! They are perhaps the coolest hyenas since The Lion Kings Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed.  Hed is the author and illustrator of several comics, but the only one I know I have read […]

A conversation between two poets

Wise Up! Wise Down!: A Poetic Conversation by John Agard and JonArno Lawson

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The last few weeks have been filled with one thing after another! I needed some down time for reading as what I have found of late is pretty tough. Prison camps, transgender issues, first crushes, The Holocaust. Therefore I found this odd and little looking book called,  Wise Up! Wise Down!: A Poetic Conversation by John Agard, JonArno Lawson and illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura on line and read it for a nice winding down. This book is a unique mix of subjects and forms for […]

Family, faith and More

Almost Sunset by Wahab Algarmi

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Almost Sunset by Wahab Algarmi is a relatable story of trying to balance it all, but with the addition of being a Muslim which many readers (strong 8 to 12-13) might not be familiar with. Overall, things are sweet, fun and informative. However, my score of a 3 is more of a 3.5 as there were a few things I would have liked to know more about and a few arcs in the story were not my favorite.  The cover gives you how the illustrations […]

Teenagers, chess, and romance

Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

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I’ve read a number of women-in-science, love stories by Ali Hazelwood, but this is the first young adult, romance I’ve read by her. This one is about chess. Mallory Greenleaf loved chess; in fact, she was obsessed with it. And she was very good at it. Trained by her father, she was working her way up the ranks even as a young teenager. But then she saw her dad kiss another woman. It tore their family apart. Mallory blamed herself and quit playing chess. Mallory’s […]

Just a couple of moms and their talking cats

Urban Tails by Ilana Zeffren

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I first found Urban Tails by Ilana Zeffren as an online reader copy, though the book has been available since May 2022. I was having trouble reading it online due to the illustrations. The text bled into the images. The colors were dull and this made things feel unfinished overall. The story wasn’t engaging me. But there was something about it that made me want to read it. I knew there was something there. Perhaps it was because it was about Israel. Or because there […]



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