Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen Show

The Wolf, The Duck & The Mouse by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

Triangle by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

Square by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

Circle by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

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I picked up these three Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen books because I’m a big fan of I Want My Hat Back (Jon Klassen) and wanted to check out his other stuff.  I also got my nephew a copy of Sam and Dave Dig a Big Hole (Barnett and Klassen) for Christmas.  All of these have something that’s a bit off from normal children’s books. Maybe the kids don’t notice them, but the adults sure do.     (Also, this review features all of the […]

Probably very good, but not my cup of tea

Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman

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The only reason I read this is because of a coworker.  She was super into it, and wanted our department to read it as a mini book club.  So I picked it up, and I could tell it wasn’t my preferred reading genre. This is realistic fiction, and it’s a little too real for me.  And depressing. And I was reading this while listening to The Book Thief, and that was waaaaay too much depressing at once.     The basic premise is that Colorado […]

I would like the next one to be released ASAP, please?

The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas

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Spoiler warning! This is book 3 in an ongoing series. For those who prefer to go into a series completely unspoiled, this review will probably reveal details about the earlier books in the series. The story will also make a lot more sense if you start at the beginning, with A Study in Scarlet Women.  From Goodreads: Under the cover of “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective,” Charlotte Holmes puts her extraordinary powers of deduction to good use. Aided by the capable Mrs. Watson, Charlotte draws those in need […]

The Elements of Style: The Sequel

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser

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A professor once threatened to boot me from his course for my crimes against the English language. My breezy essays were careless, inexact, perhaps even terrible. In his mercy Dr. Wright —a white-haired taskmaster in tweed jackets who frequently referenced “the war” (World War II)—gave me some advice: “Read Strunk and White every morning while eating your Wheaties.” If William Strunk and E.B. White’s The Elements of Style is the life vest keeping your head above water, William Zissner’s On Writing Well is the Coast […]

Time was a thief, he stole your life away from you and the only way you could get it back was to outwit him and snatch it back

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

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After a string of mediocre reads starting in mid-March and culminating in my first DNF of the year, I needed a win. I was just getting over the worst of the flu but pretty much still couch-bound and sick of TV, and I just wanted something easy and enjoyable to read. Turns out, the answer was staring me in the face. Literally. On the shelf beneath the TV, Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories looked up at me and said Trust in me, only in me. (I […]

Yadda yadda yadda, and there was peace throughout the land

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

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Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West has been on my radar since it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2017. When it showed up on the shortlist for this year’s International DUBLIN Literary Award, I figured it was time to see what all the fuss was about.  In an unnamed city in a long-simmering war with itself, Nadia and Saeed meet at a night class. At first cautious in their romance, they are thrown together when the fighting intensifies and Saeed’s mother is blown apart […]



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