Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Look Ma, this is how the Internet works!

Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks by Scott J. Shapiro

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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the content of my review. The blurb from Goodreads: An entertaining account of the philosophy and technology of hacking–and why we all need to understand it. It’s a signal paradox of our times that we live in an information society but do not know how it works. And without understanding how our information is stored, used, and protected, we are vulnerable to having it exploited. In Fancy Bear Goes Phishing, Scott J. Shapiro draws […]

Cannonballing with an excellent but very intense mystery/thriller.

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby

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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It has not affected the content of my review. Gird your loins for this one, friends. This is not a gentle romp through a mystery, with all of the small town residents rallying to support their competent and now respected Black sheriff. I didn’t really think it was possible, but this is somehow even more intense than Razorblade Tears. Makes sense, though, because he’s juggling like ten thousand more storylines and themes here than he did in […]

An extremely thought provoking read, with an excellent audiobook.

Who Gets Believed? When the Truth Isn't Enough by Dina Nayeri

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Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio ARC. It hasn’t affected the content of my review. This is a book that many, many people right now could benefit from reading and thinking very hard about, and then reflecting extra super hard about their life choices. (I am not excluded from this!) I clicked “Request” on NetGalley for this one on an impulse, and I’m glad I did. The topic seemed interesting and relevant, and that turned out to very much be the case. […]

Come for Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace, stay for PAN (Practical Automaton Number One).

My Imaginary Mary (Mary, #2) by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows

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Still not as good as the first Lady Janie book. A lot of this made no sense, and anachronisms were flying around willy-nilly, but I had a good time. My Imaginary Mary is what you get when you mix light fantasy (there are fairies! and Mary Godwin (Shelley) is one! (different kind of fairy than you’d expect)), alternate history (what if Mary met Ada Lovelace?), and a truly ridiculous sensibility (they invent the name Peter Pan for some reason?) with egregious unconcern for historical accuracy. […]

“‘Why would anyone love a monster?’ asked Perseus. ‘Who are you to decide who is worthy of love?’ said Hermes. ‘I mean, I wasn’t…’ ‘And who are you to decide who is a monster?’”

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

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I knew I was going to like this, but I didn’t quite expect to like it as much as I did. Sometime in the near future, we’re going to hit the saturation point for Greek mythology retellings in the literary marketplace, but it seems we’re at the peak right now, and it can be hard to sort out the copycat clones from the worthwhile without reading them first. Stone Blind is one of the worthwhile. It’s not enough to just retell a myth, even if you are […]

“Even small actions have consequences. And while we can often choose our actions, we rarely get to choose our consequences.”

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

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Backing Brandon Sanderson’s Secret Project Kickstarter is one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. Tress of the Emerald Sea is the first of those four secret novels Sanderson wrote during the pandemic when he wasn’t touring and had some “free time” on his hands. Of course what Brando Sando does on his free time is write more books, because he famously takes a break from writing to recharge by writing something else. The guy is a straight up nerd and I’m so glad […]



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