Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Everyone should read this book, but the people who need it most won’t. (CBR12Bingo: How To)

A Field Guide to Lies by Daniel Levitin

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I feel like this book should be required reading with any college degree. I even loaned it to my colleague’s economics professor husband (shoutout to Econ Dave for having provided me with so many behavioral economics books, had to return the favor – but I want this one back!) in hopes it might make his college curriculum. It’s basically a how-to manual at spotting misinformation, but it never feels like anything but a fun read; it’s accessible enough to read for fun but serious enough […]

This Cannot Continue

Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America by Kristian Williams

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BINGO: Shelfie Best for: Those new to the idea of police abolition, and who are interested in learning more about the history of policing in the US. In a nutshell: Author Williams provides a thoroughly researched examination of the brutally violent world of US policing. Worth quoting: “If we do the math, we see that the police kill almost seven times as often as they are killed. The fact is, the police produce far more casualties than they suffer.” “Despite its initial plausibility, the idea […]

The Girls Get their Turn

Stormsong by C. L. Polk

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Bingo review 4: Violet Stormsong is the second of what is planned to be a trilogy, and the covers are apparently going to reflect the bisexual pride flag; book 1 was blue (Witchmark), book 2 is purple (aka violet), and the to-be-released-Feb ‘21 book 3 (Soulstar) will be pink. Stormsong is the second of what is planned to be a trilogy, and the covers are apparently going to reflect the bisexual flag; book 1 was blue (Witchmark), book 2 is purple (aka violet), and the […]

Immigrants–they get the job done

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

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Pachinko (2017) by Min Jin Lee is my second Cannonball Bingo entry. I am using Pachinko to fill the “Uncannon” entry–a book not written by an old, white man. Min Jin Lee is a woman who was born in South Korea before moving to the United States at age seven. Even better, her book is a four-generational story of Koreans living as immigrants in Japan before and after World War II. It certainly gave me a new perspective on the lives of people whose stories I previously knew nothing about. […]

If Only I Could Be Happy

The Darkness (The Hulda Series Book 1) by Ragnar Jónasson

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Only days from retirement, Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is given the opportunity to choose one cold case to solve before she leaves. She immediately picks the case of a young Russian asylum seeker who was washed up dead on a lonely shore the year before. This is a book that seems to take great pleasure in wallowing in all the misery and desolation that the author can conjure. I’d be hard-pressed to think of a detective in a Nordic Noir that has a more depressing […]

Girl Power Monsters

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

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Mary Jekyll, daughter of the famous Dr. Jekyll, finds herself trying to solve the mysteries of her father’s past.  Along the way, she meets the off-spring of several of literature’s most famous characters – Dr. Frankenstein, Mr. Hyde, Dr. Moreau and Dr. Rappaccini.  Together with Sherlock Holmes and his trusty side kick Dr. Watson, her formidable housekeeper Mrs. Poole, and scullery maid Alice, the ladies join forces to help solve the Whitechapel murders (aka Jack the Ripper).   That’s a lot to unpack in a book. […]



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