Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

So many Cannonballers can’t be wrong

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

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I’ve seen Liane Moriarty’s books getting mostly positive reviews on this site, so when I saw a random copy of Big Little Lies in the break room at work, nestled among old business standbys like Good to Great and piles of free Westways magazines, I snatched it up. I am not the target demographic for this novel. I am not a suburban housewife, nor a single mother, nor a grade school teacher, all of whom would be able to identify with the characters more than I […]

Superficially, it’s a comedy fantasy with pirates and otters but underneath is so much more

The Princess Beard by Delilah S. Dawson, Kevin Hearne

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The Princess Beard is the third book in Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne’s “Tales of Pell” series.  Once again they have me nearly doubled over with laughter while also appreciating their pro LGBTQ+, feminist, socially conscious agenda and sly pokes at the establishment.  Each of the three books this duo have written together can stand alone and be read individually.  However, the world is much richer if you have read the other books.  And as they are hysterically funny, I highly suggest reading all […]

Women behaving badly, 19th century Norwegian realism edition

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

Hedda Gabler by Herik Ibsen

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Last year I took note of the Chancellor’s review of A Doll’s House, and realized that I had never actually read the drama, in spite of my admiration for Ibsen (An Enemy of the People was a high school favorite of mine). Wanting to rectify that, and thinking it would be interesting to also revisit Hedda Gabler, I decided to read both plays back to back and see what themes they have in common. My conclusion is that a repressed woman in the 19th century […]

“And how many times have I prayed the angels would speed me away”

Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

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  Deathless Divide is the much anticipated follow up to Justina Ireland’s 2018 YA novel Dread Nation.  In this alternate history of Civil War era America, the dead rise up during the Battle of Gettysburg and the North and South are forced into a hasty truce.  Our main characters, Jane McKeene and Katherine Devereaux are sent to combat schools to learn to be attendants which is sort of a combination of a lady’s maid and a bodyguard. The events of Deathless Divide pick up right where […]

Endings and beginnings

The Tower of Swallows: A Novel of the Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski

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Throughout the Witcher series, the message has been that something big is coming; the world will end and a new world will dawn, and Ciri, the child of the Elder Blood, will help bring this about. Geralt frequently states that he feels like something in him is changing as well, that something is coming to an end, and in this fourth novel (sixth book) of the Witcher series, the reader gets a sense of what he means. Geralt’s schtick has always been that, as a […]

An impossible job, near certain death, terrible odds…I love a good heist!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

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Six of Crows was recommended to me before I had heard of the Grishaverse.  After receiving it as a gift in the 2018 Cannonball gift exchange, I discovered that it was part of a larger world setting and I should probably read the preceding trilogy first.  It took me a while to get around to the “Shadow and Bone” trilogy and then another length of time to get back to Six of Crows.  I’m glad I waited and read the trilogy first, otherwise, the world […]



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