Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Expanding Horizons

The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia (Author), Simon Bruni (Translator)

by Leave a Comment

Bingo Update: This is for my History/Schmistory square. The book is, according to the publisher, “set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution and the devastating influenza of 1918.” I learned SO MUCH about Mexican history reading this book, even if it is a work of fiction. Every now and then a monolith that should be seen as evil does something good, even Amazon (who we appreciate for our buyhole, obviously). Amazon sent out a list of books they were offering for free for World […]

Stay with me – what if the library was evil?

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

by 1 Comment

This is my reread of the series (I think the last one just came out?) and while it doesn’t hold up quite as well as I remembered, I’d set the bar on my recollection pretty darn high. The Great Library is a pretty awesome series and one I hope more people read so we can talk about it. In a setting of alternate-history-but-with-magic, the library of Alexandria now controls all knowledge. Essentially all books and information are delivered by magical eReaders and physical books (theoretically) exist […]

Burned Through Like Balefire

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso

The Defiant Heir by Melissa Caruso

The Unbound Empire by Melissa Caruso

by Leave a Comment

Bingo Update: I’m using this for the Travel square. Each of these books centers around journeying from the protagonists home city (and center of the Empire) Raverra. It takes them to other places within the Empire (Ardence, Callamorne, Highpass) as well as key locations in the invading Vaskandar (Sevaeth, Kazerath, Let, Atruin). How quickly they can or cannot travel is also plot significant, as it relates to our heroine’s ability to stay alive as well as prevent ruin of her nation. The notion of “home” […]

Some Classics Remain That Way

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

by Leave a Comment

Bingo Update: This is my Classics square. I don’t think I need to explain this one. This is not my first read, though I’ve discovered with the release of the trailer for the new film that it isn’t actually fair to assume that everyone has read this perennial favorite of young women everywhere. The upcoming film adaptation, one of many, inspired me to pick this up for the first time in more than a decade. I was not disappointed. Little Women tells the semi-autobiographical story […]

A Delicious Mix of New Knowledge and Old Belief

Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson

by Leave a Comment

CBR11 Bingo Square: Travel Now perhaps the characters in this story don’t journey far beyond their city (though they do end up in the outskirts) and largely travel within it in a physical sense, but this novel also includes a journey to an unseen world of djinn, and therefore I picked it for the Travel square for CBR bingo. Alif the Unseen centers around a young hacker who goes by the pseudonym Alif, in an unnamed city along the Persian Gulf. This city is a […]

Who’s Up for a Day at the Races?

The Fine Cotton Fiasco by Peter Hoysted, Pat Sheil

by Leave a Comment

I am not much of a horse person. Far from being the kid who immersed themselves in Pony Club, I never learnt to ride and was possibly even allergic to them until the age of about twelve or thirteen–put me around the horsey stuff, and I would break out in hives. I’m not much of a fan of horse racing either, which is probably to the dismay of some members of my extended family, as they’re pretty heavily into it. There have always been suspect […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo