Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

An Intense, Important Middle Grade

Lion of the Sky by Ritu Hemnani

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I was immediately intrigued by the cover of Lion of the Sky with the two boys flying kites, and when I read the synopsis I knew I wanted to read it. For some reason I’ve been coming across more books, and middle grade ones at that, talking about the Indian Partition and the experiences of those who survived. This was my first story which focused on a Hindu family migrating from Pakistan, and the similarities and differences of the experiences are striking, and utterly heartbreaking. […]

New Jackie Lau with Fake Dating – I was automatically in!

Love, Lies, & Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau

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I make a habit of reading Jackie Lau books when I can, and being able to read Love, Lies, & Cherry Pie as an ARC was something I just couldn’t pass up, particularly when the logline for the book is a Pride and Prejudice retelling having a good time with some tropes (Lau tends to always have more than one in her work). The tropes in question are fake dating, forced proximity, and enemies to lovers, and I think Lau did a good job with […]

Talkin’ ’bout my best friend

Built to Last by Minh Lê,

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Built to Last by the fabulous author, Minh Lê, and the amazing illustrator, Dan Santat (no, I’m not biased at all), is an adorable story about friendship and the true and important things that cannot be broken. Sure things might fall and crash, and that can sometimes be funny, but there are few things that cannot have a do-over. Most things are able to have a fresh start, mostly because you have learned from any mistakes and know what is really important. The narrator is […]

Be a bonobo

The Bandit Queens: A Novel by Parini Shroff

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This book might end up one of my favorites for CBR16. It was a shockingly funny delight about women who murder their husbands. Parini Shroff was inspired to write this story after a visit to India many years ago, where she learned about the micro loan program there. Women receive loans to start their own businesses, forming small support groups that ensure participants repay their loans regularly. Shroff wondered about two things: why women receive the loans and not men (because women were seen as […]

The Book that Helped Influence a Movement

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

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Best for: Anyone interested in a straightforward exploration of a woman’s life under patriarchy. In this case, the patriarchy women experience in Korea. In a nutshell: Kim Jiyoung’s story, from birth through motherhood, and all the times her being a girl / woman has been held against her. Worth quoting: “It felt more like harassment or violence than pranks, and there was nothing she could do about it.” “It wasn’t that she didn’t have time – she didn’t have room in her head for other […]

Memorable but not fun for me

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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I’d seen Yellowface (2023) by R.F. Kuang on various lists at the end of the year, which encouraged me to pick it up. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was still surprised. I’ve read a number of books where plots are stolen or authors pretend to be something they’re not, and this one felt nothing like them. In fact, it felt more like a horror story than a literary story. June Hayward is an aspiring author. She has published one book that did not […]



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