Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

You won’t have to write a book report on these

Who Is R. L. Stine by M.D. Payne

Who Was Maurice Sendak by Janet B. Pascal

Who Was Ernest Hemingway by Jim Gigliotti

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I know some are familiar with the Who Are/Who Was series? And, I have written abut them before, so saying they are books about a subject (person for the Who Are/Was, place or thing for the What Is/What Was), and they have realistic, black and white illustrations that are not necessarily “fantastic” but get the point across and there is a double timeline at the end (for the subject, in this case  three authors, and the world timeline) is redundant. But needed as an intro […]

A cute fairy tale retelling

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory

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3.5 stars Isabelle (her friends call her Izzy) was so elated when she got a job as an assistant editor for a big publishing company. It was like a dream come true. Several years later, when she’s overworked, underappreciated and still living with her parents at twenty-five, without even getting a promotion, she is starting to wonder if she should change careers. After having her own attempts at writing a book politely criticised by one of her more senior colleagues, that’s another dream she’s shelved, […]

The stories might be appropriate, but the company is not

Lucky Girl: How I Became a Horror Writer: A Krampus Story by M. Rickert

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If you ring the bell, remember it cannot be undone. And when that happens, the monsters come out to play. But of course, they do not play by any rules known to man or woman. But one thing is for certain, the monsters come, and they can find each other and you. One Thanksgiving five strangers meet up in a diner that will be closing its doors forever soon. Ro, narrator of and the title girl in Lucky Girl: How I Became a Horror Writer: […]

I always had a soft spot for the ol’ spook

Who Was Edgar Allan Poe? by Jim Gigliotti

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Once you recommend one book in the Who Was series (Who Was, Who Is, even What Is) you have pretty much said everything you need about them. They are fun, simple, and while might not get “down and dirty” you do find a little dust here and there. I tend to like the books about people over the “things” or events (though the Ice Age was interesting as it showed that we are still learning about it, even though it seems like something that is […]

The Plot of The Plot is a Very Good Plot

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

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Who owns a story? A plot? That is the core issue of this novel. Jacob Finch Bonnen is a struggling writer who has fallen into teaching creative writings in MFA programs after publishing two novels. The first was well received and landed him on a list of new and noteworthy authors, and his second basically confirmed his place in the obscurity that can only be experienced by the once-great.  During a low-residency MFA program, he meets a student who changes his life. Evan Parker is […]

Poetry and dogs and cats and wheelbarrows oh my

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech

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When I first came to work at the bookstore one of my coworkers had been in the business for several years (but not at “our” store) and one author he liked was Sharon Creech. I would read a few of her books because of his recommendation and the new one that had just come out. But I realized she was an author that wrote books you “liked or not” that book but not necessarily a “like or not” the actual author kind of author. I […]



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