Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Longest Journey

Magellan by Stefan Zweig

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In September of 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan set out to find and sail a presumed passage between the Atlantic and the South Pacific in order to find a Western route to the highly coveted Spice Islands. Although not planned as such, this journey ended up the first circumnavigation of the world which proved that the Earth is a round, rotating ball. Magellan himself did not live to see its conclusion as he died during an unnecessary battle in the Philippines, but the important events […]

CBR Bingo: Not My Wheelhouse, I Love This and Reader’s Choice

99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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CBR 11 Bingo- Not My Wheelhouse 99 Percent Mine – Sally Thorne I chose a romance novel, Thorne’s The Hating Game, for last year’s Not My Wheelhouse and while I enjoyed it the romance genre floodgates were not opened for me so I chose another kissing book for the same square this year. Darcy Barrett and her twin brother, Jamie, inherited their grandmother’s tear-down of a cottage which has caused some estrangement between the siblings. Their childhood best friend, Tom, has been hired as the contractor […]

Fae Murder Mystery in San Francisco

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

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Rosemary and Rue is the first book in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire. I’ve been meaning to read this forever. I’m a big fan of detective mysteries and urban fantasy. I’m very happy to review it for the And So It Begins CBR11 bingo square. October Daye, Toby for short, is a changeling and a knight errant to the Duke of Shadowed Hills. In this universe, the Fae are hidden to humans and live amongst them in secret. Toby’s mother is a powerful […]

First Love and Losing Faith

Blankets by Craig Thompson

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CBR11 Bingo Square: Banned Books I remember reading Blankets a number of years ago, and if I recall correctly, I liked certain aspects but didn’t love it. But having a copy on my shelves, I decided to re-visit it for my Banned Books square, after learning that both this novel and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home were challenged and subsequently removed from the public library in Marshall, Missouri, after complaints that the novels were “pornographic” and might be read by children. This began a series of […]

Good Language is Wasted on the Young: Bingo 6 (because I missed one)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

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I read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for the first time in 5th grade for a class assignment, and never revisited it again. However, my interest in the original tale was piqued when hubby and I took a trip to actual Sleepy Hollow, New York, for their Halloween festivities a few weeks ago. We saw a storyteller do the entire legend complete with props, costumes, and the original language. It was AWESOME, but I wondered while we were listening how much of the story was truncated […]

Son of a Preacher Man

Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin

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CBR11Bingo: Banned Books Sometimes the timing isn’t right. Working my way painstakingly through James Baldwin’s breakthrough novel, I could tell that it was beautifully written, with dazzling prose. I could tell that the story was intensely personal for Baldwin. I have no quarrel with its sterling reputation and its place high up in the rankings of American fiction. But if I’m being honest, I just could not will myself to the end of this novel. After a moving opening section that largely takes place on […]



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