Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Predictable, but in the best way

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

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“Explain to me again,” said Oliver finally, “why you need a boyfriend?” It was the least I owed him. “Mainly for this big fundraiser we’ve got coming up at the end of April. Our donors all think I’m a bad gay.” He frowned. “What’s a good gay?” “Someone like you.” “I see.” ― Alexis Hall, Boyfriend Material “You” – I gave a thwarted sigh – “are a terrible fake boyfriend.” “I’m building fake anticipation.” “You’d better be fake worth it.” “I am.” ― Alexis Hall, […]

I could not be that scarless, fearless boy again. But, for a little while at least, I had been someone I could almost stand. Pieces of a better self, reflected in someone else’s eyes.

Glitterland by Alexis Hall

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The truth was, somewhere down the line, between the hospitalisations and the drugs, I’d somehow lost the cornerstone of humanity: the ability to pretend, to counterfeit the basics of social interaction, to smile when you didn’t feel like smiling, to seem like you cared about other people when you lacked the capacity to care about yourself. So that left me, graceless and wearied, pretending to pretend. ― Alexis Hall, Glitterland It’s difficult, sometimes, for me to understand that I have the power to hurt someone. […]

I was wholly unprepared for such tenderness and humor

For Real by Alexis Hall

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CBR15Bingo: Europe square CBR15Passport: Books from different countries (England) “A soft pulse of desire went through me, not for sex or pain or humiliation or some other release, but for this, this quiet closeness. Someone to hold in the dark.” ― Alexis Hall, For Real “What could I do with a boy who had brought me to my knees twice, yet still held my hand in the dark? What could I give in return for such kindness? Such faith? I would so gladly bear all […]

DNF Part 1: Crossing these off my list

The Greek Myths by Robert Graves

Troy by Stephen Fry

I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom

Paris Dallencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall

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Here is the first batch of “did not finish” for CBR 15. Troy by Stephen Fry The audio book was 11 hours. Listened to about half of it. Skipped quite a bit. Still didn’t finish it. I read Mythos and thought that the audiobook version of Troy would be easier to digest. It was not. Greek Myths by Robert Graves This is basically an encyclopedia of Greek myths. Maybe you can use this as some sort of reference material. But I could not get through […]

“Sometimes Paris felt his whole life was in slow motion with ominous music playing over it.”

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble (Winner Bakes All, #2) by Alexis Hall

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I don’t think this is a book anybody but Alexis Hall could have pulled off. This is a romance and a book about a baking competition, yes, but it’s also a book about a person with severe anxiety, and what that anxiety does to his relationships with the people around him. Paris isn’t an easy character to like, and his story isn’t an easy ride. But it was worth it! Paris Daillencourt ends up on Bake Expectations because his flatmate secretly put him up for […]

I would have written myself into his skin if only I could, like a prisoner marking the walls of his cell, just to prove I was still alive and that I did not drift, untouching and untouched, through a universe of empty spaces and fading stars.

Glitterland by Alexis Hall

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Nobody puts me into someone else’s head quite the way Alexis Hall does. Sometimes that’s a problem for me, like when I had to bail on Rosalind Palmer because the narcissist relationship was too visceral for me. In Glitterland, being in Ash’s head meant I was still having that visceral experience and I could see the lights of the oncoming disaster train, but I also could see how he was going to move through and repair the damage he does. It engaged my compassion without […]



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