Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I am a sucker for a decent Austen retelling.

Jane of Austin by Hillary Manton Lodge

by Leave a Comment

Newsflash: I’ll pretty much read anything that is tangentially related to Jane Austen. Unofficial sequels. Modern retellings. Historical fiction. Whatever. Some of it works. A lot of it doesn’t. But I’m usually game to give it a go. I really enjoyed the books that were part of The Austen Project a few years ago. There was Emma, driving around her little town in a Mini Cooper. Cat and Henry, with lots of references to Twilight. Liz and Darcyand a dating reality show in Cincinatti. And […]

Only Certain Hearts are Bears

My Boyfriend is a Bear by Pamela Ribon and Cat Farris

by 5 Comments

In my family, we use the term “bear” to denote a particular kind of person. Not everyone is a bear, though it’s certainly not something to engender jealousy. A bear is born a bear. Bears are dear people, sensitive souls, kind humans bordering on empaths. Bears are loyal, if not perhaps a little clannish at times. Bears may seem fierce in their daily lives, intimidating to some due to their great-big hearts which drive their great-big goals. But underneath the teeth and fluff lies an […]

“It’s a cruel, cruel world. And the people are the worst part.”

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

by 2 Comments

In Justina Ireland’s America, nobody won the Civil War. The war simply never ended, because of the shamblers. The shamblers are the dead that rose up from the battlefields of Gettysburg and began to walk, hungry for blood and flesh. The country needed to band together to fight this new threat, and the war simply petered out. Most of the cities in the South are simply gone. Burned. Destroyed. Overrun by shamblers. The cities in the North are doing slightly better, but its hard to […]

If you love fairy tales

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo

by 1 Comment

I’ve always enjoyed fairy tales and became a bit obsessed once I discovered the darker original Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson collections.  This book evokes those tales but the stories have been spun in different and interesting directions, in part because it was created as a volume of fairy tales that the characters in the Grishaverse (the world setting Leigh Bardugo created) would know.  In 2012 Leigh’s publisher asked if she would write a prequel story for her first novel Shadow and Bone.  But instead […]

Maybe you’re a misfit, too. Doesn’t mean you’re not deserving. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be here.

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

by 6 Comments

My first CBR last year was eye-opening, to say the least. I paid more attention to my reading than I have since college, and I also paid fresh attention to my book choices after being confronted by the ugly truth of my blindspot for women authors. And though not every book was a winner, I did fall in love with a number of books and authors new to me, including Becky Chambers and her delightful The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, one of […]

Not a Single Dick-pun in this review. Not. A. Single. One.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

by 1 Comment

Okay, so let’s disregard the awful title of this book and instead pretend the title reflects the content. In that case the title would be incisive, something about religion, humanity, and empathy. It would not be an awful pun. I hate puns and there will be no puns in this review. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is set in a future after a devastating world war. Most of Earth’s population has emigrated to a colony on Mars, yet some people remain behind for reasons […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo