Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Officially the weirdest book i have read in the past 8 years.

The Obsoletes by Simion Mills

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CBR11 Bingo — Youths! Until last week, I always thought that the weirdest book I would read during the Cannonball Read era would be Grasshopper Jungle. What could be stranger than a gigantic praying mantis army that wipes out civilization while a few teens figure out the truths about their sexuality in an underground bunker while dancing to the Rolling Stones? Well, I’m here to tell you that I found something stranger. This book is much, much weirder. Darryl and Kanga are twin brothers who live […]

I’m a travelin’ man and I’ve made a lot of stops All over the world

This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews

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#cbr11bingo #Travel The 10-to-14-year-old reader will see the literal journey Ben and his friends take, and the adult will see the metaphysical one in graphic novel This Was Our Pact. Regardless which journey you see, Ryan Andrews created something darn magical. While some of Andrews illustrations were slightly awkward for me (there is the one panel where the bear is laughing and frankly, movie Alien comparisons might not be out of place), but they always fit the mood and tone of the story. Color, or […]

“This book is meant to free, not capture, a life” ~ Lindberg

Birdie by Tracey Lindberg

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CBR11 Bingo – Own Voices   When it comes to diversifying my reading list, I’m trying to be more intentional about including voices from Canadian Indigenous communities.  Canada, for all its wonderful awesomeness, has an atrocious history (and even current relationship) with its Indigenous population – and so often, has kept so much of it quiet. Stories keep coming to light now about the horrors that ripped these families apart, the way entire communities were destroyed, and yes, despite what many of our politicians say, […]

You are my life now

Twlight by Stephanie Meyer

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CBR11Bingo – Not My Wheelhouse So when I thought about what kind of book would really count as a not my wheelhouse kind of thing, financial analysis, self-help books, math books, hard science texts are more or less what comes to mind. But I really didn’t want to read those. So instead, I picked what I would maybe consider as far removed from my wheelhouse in terms of fiction (other than hard-right military bullshit, which I didn’t feel like, because I didn’t want to get […]

What is the impact of not being valued? How do you measure the loss of what a human being does not receive?

When they call you a terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullers and Asha Bandele

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CBR11Bingo – True Story This is book is both a lot of what I thought it would be and a little surprising in other ways. I initially avoided it, not because I didn’t think it would be good, but because I am not always ready to dive into a book in which my privilege and place in the world are actively interrogated. But once I got going, I was interested in the ways in which this book is a full-throated defense of existing and being […]

Anne Perry Writes the Next Generation

Twenty-One Days by Anne Perry

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For my #cbr11bingo #summerread selection I have read Twenty-One Days, by one of my favorite crime novelists, Anne Perry. For years I have been reading (and awaiting the next release of) the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, set in Victorian England. In those books, Charlotte is an out-spoken woman born into Society, who marries for love well beneath her station. Thomas Pitt starts off as a police detective, but as the novels continue, moves up in job title and status (no spoilers as to where […]



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