Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Let Your Life Be a Counter Friction to Stop the Machine

This is Not a Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook by Extinction Rebellion

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Welcome to the Anthropocene era, the fossil fuel-powered nightmare of our own making. Our hot and crowded planet has hit Defcon 3. Right now, a record number of fires is burning down the Brazilian rainforest, threatening three million endemic plant and animal species. Mass bleaching in the heat-stressed Great Barrier Reef has reduced baby coral by 89% since 2016. Okjökull is the first (but not the last) glacier to disappear from Iceland. Last month Paris hit 109º, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the city, […]

“But you, you’re special I might let you”

Inspection by Josh Malerman

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  The concept of this book is an interesting one; take 26 girls and 26 boys and raise them completely isolated not just from the outside world but from the opposite sex. They have no knowledge that such a thing exists. The premise of the two rich weirdos enact the plan is that without the “distraction” of sexuality they will become prodigies and high achievers. The fact that sexuality is fluid apparently never occurs to these two. When the book begins the children are twelve […]

I was born reaching for her.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

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I was super excited when I got my hands on this at the library. The title popped up as recommended all over my book apps and emails. Fans of Harry Potter, V.E. Schwab, and Lev Grossman’s Magician’s trilogy were into it, so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, that particular well of mysteries set at magic schools is pretty much full to the brim. Twin sisters Ivy and Tabitha Gamble are estranged. Their sisterly bond was torn apart by a dying mother, a grieving father and […]

An unattended wound gets infected

There There by Tommy Orange

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CBR11 BINGO: Own Voices and HALF CANNONBALL! There are so many books out there that could easily be great candidates for the CBR Bingo “Own Voices” square. As a white, female reader, I know that I tend to gravitate towards novels about and by white, and often female, authors. I don’t have to scroll through my GoodReads to know that. While I do read across a wide range of genres, I am trying to make more of an effort to seek out books by other […]

I Have Always Imagined that Paradise Will Be a Kind of Library

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

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Have you ever felt that a book was written just for you? Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is my Platonic ideal: a novel by an Elder Millennial, set in an alternate San Francisco Bay Area populated by talented, curious people, weird-but-plausible technologies, and endless shelves of books. By the time I discovered the in-story trilogy of fantasy novels and the credible centuries-old secret society, I committed to becoming a Sloan completist. Our initially hapless first-person hero Clay Jannon is looking for a job, any job. His […]

(Bingo: Pajiba) All shall fade into the whiteness of death

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

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I was keenly intrigued upon reading both the Pajiba post about this one and I think also possibly Big Idea on Scalzi’s website but I’m not certain about that. I just know I saw a fair amount of press and was very interested in reading James’ take on an epic fantasy world beginning from an African perspective. “Children cannot help how they are born, they had no choice in it. Choosing to be a fool, though . . .” (Kindle loc 1020) Unfortunately, I am […]



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