Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“This is Afghanistan …. What do you want — a happy ending?”

My Name is Parvana by Deborah Ellis

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Cbr12bingo Red In this final novel of Deborah Ellis’ The Breadwinner series, we are reunited with Parvana, the young girl who disguised herself as a boy in order to support her family and survive in war torn, Taliban controlled Afghanistan. Several years have passed, Parvana is now a teenager, and Afghanistan is still rocked by war. US troops and bases are nearby, and the Taliban is still terrorizing the people, especially women and girls. Through her YA novels, Ellis shows the perspective of a girl, […]

cbr12bingo – Reader’s Choice (standing in for Book Club)

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

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It’s my first “bingo”- the rightmost column! I wanted to replace Book Club because I jumped the gun and read all of our CannonBookClub options earlier this year. Oops! That’s what I get for getting impatient; the choices for #thefutureisqueer would have knocked out multiple squares! I also started (and in some cases, finished) a few series. Oh well, *shooting star* the more you know. Speaking of “the more you know”, I accidentally came into this one over-prepared. Oops again! I’m pretty far into the […]

Thank you, Emmalita, for yet another good romance recommendation! (BINGO #1)

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon

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#CBR12 Bingo: Fresh Start (the beginning of a new series, AND my first book by this author) It would also work really well for Cannonballer Says, Money! and Friendship I got a free ARC of this on Netgalley in return for an unbiased review. I also liked the book enough that I have now paid money to own it. Samiah Brooks is getting ready for a date, while her pregnant sister reads her hilarious updates from another woman’s disastrous first date on Twitter. Samiah is mortified to discover […]

How to love the imperfect

How to Love a Country: Poems by Richard Blanco

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cbr12bingo  Pandemic I probably should use my Pandemic slot last, as you can fill in anything you want, but at the same time, How to Love a Country: Poems is the perfect book for it. I am planning on using poetry for another slot, but Richard Blanco’s collection does not seem to fit another category, so here he is and I get to a) use poetry more than once and b) introduce you to a (possible) new poet that I would never have heard of […]

Please do not read if you are a fan of Eloise

Eloise: A Book for Precocious Grown Ups by Kay Thompson

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cbr12bingo AdaptationOh, I just hate hate hate Eloise: A Book for Precocious Grown Ups, Kay Thompson. Please tell me WHY she has been so popular for over 60 years? Why have there been sequels, modern book updates/adaptations, toys and at least two movie adaptations? She is a spoiled brat, with absolutely no redeeming qualities. Rude, inconsiderate and not even remotely funny. I have to say in 1955 you had an odd idea of what people wanted to read. Or was that the point? This is […]

The story of a child refugee

Mud City by Deborah Ellis

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Cbr12bingo Yellow Mud City, the third novel in Ellis’ The Breadwinner series, is the story of Shauzia, the best friend of The Breadwinner’s main character Parvana. In book 1, readers learned that Shauzia, like Parvana, was pretending to be a boy in Taliban-controlled Kabul so that she could work and earn money to support her family at home. Women and girls were denied education and independence and to break the rules was to invite severe punishment, even death. While we don’t learn a lot about […]



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