Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Do You Have the Need? The Need to Read?

The Need by Helen Phillips

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Helen Phillips knows how to grab your attention. My pulse was already quickening on the very first page. I had to read as much of it as quickly as I could; the chapters are snappy and taught. I had to stop myself from skimming to the bottom of every page. I was desperate for relief; chapters whip back and forth between the present and several hours ago and I just had to know what nasty break was waiting for me in the present. My distress […]

Try not to be too crabby that this does not come out until August

Crabapple Trouble by Kaeti VanDorn

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Due to the cover of Crabapple Trouble I was worried this might be some really bad acid trip. That fear continued when, I noticed heads did not always meet body in the illustrations and later, heads literally roll away after “popping off” of their bodies. I am assuming kids will be okay with Kaeti VanDorn’s realistic-abstract-unique characters which are sentient fruits and vegetables. But I can see some adults being unnerved by them. After all, the characters are Farmers which technically farm themselves (the lemon […]

“Therapy is like a toothbrush. You can’t really put it to use for anybody but yourself”

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

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#CBR11 Bingo: Reader’s Choice (in place of Back to School) (would also work for a Pajiba or Listicle square, as well as Summer Read) Eveleth “Evvie” (rhymes with ‘chevy’) Drake has packed the car and is about to leave her husband when she gets a phone call that he’s been in a car accident. Before she can make it to the hospital, he is dead. About a year later, everyone thinks Evvie has kept to herself, isolated in her big house, because she’s overcome with grief. She […]

If My Life Was a Story it would have a better sound track….

If This Were a Story by Beth Turley

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#cbr11bingo #SummerRead If This Were a Story looks at anxiety within a modern setting. Perhaps the issues are too easily solved by the end of the book, but it is an over good first novel for the 8 to 10 crowd. Hannah is a pre-junior high student trying to deal with issues even the adults do not always understand: bullies, fighting parents, friends growing apart and school work. Her way of coping is to ignore much of what is going on, keeping her head down, […]

Laugh so Loud at the Coffee Shop that the Guy Next in Line Spills His Drink (CBR11 Bingo: The Collection)

Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg

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The bizarre come home to roost in Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory. Fleeting daydreams turn into years long stunted relationships, science goes too far into US history, dogs navigate the meaning of “good” and “bad”, entire stories are told in the span of half-sentences, and a Minions watch holds new and aching power. The wordplay, absurdity, and bone-deep ennui of Bob-Waksberg’s previous creation, Bojack Horseman, are ever present and ready to build you up and tear you back down to the ground. […]

A kissing book with SCIENCE!

The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian

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4.5 stars #CBR11 Bingo: Science! One of the protagonists is a scientist and his scientific experiments plays an important part throughout the story. Official book description: Lawrence Browne, the Earl of Radnor, is mad. At least, that’s what he and most of the village believes. A brilliant scientist, he hides himself away in his family’s crumbling estate, unwilling to venture into the outside world. When an annoyingly handsome man arrives at Penkellis, claiming to be Lawrence’s new secretary, his carefully planned world is turned upside down. […]



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