Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Short story review dump (Part IV)

Cuisine des Mémoires by N.K. Jemisin

Valedictorian by N.K. Jemisin

Blur by Carmen Maria Machado

Staying Behind by Ken Liu

Recitatif by Toni Morrison

The Foster Portfolio by Kurt Vonnegut

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This is something new I’m trying this year, where I review short stories as stand alone stories, not part of anthologies or collections. Here are parts I, II, and III. Cuisine des Mémoires by N.K. Jemisin (5 stars) This little experiment of a short story read every day (which I’ve already failed at) has led to some wonderful discoveries. Along with Ken Liu, N.K. Jemsisin (who I’ve long wanted to read) are definitely at the top of the list, though. A man is taken to […]

Beyond Self-Acceptance

The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor

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BINGO: Violet (I mean, she’s on a bed of ACTUAL VIOLETS) Best for: Those open to reconsidering the ways they view themselves and others. In a nutshell: Author Sonya Renee Taylor offers up the idea that society’s ills are based on hatred of bodies that deviate from ‘the norm,’ and that by moving beyond self-acceptance to self-love, we will be able to create “a world that works for every body.” Worth quoting: “Our societies have defined what is considered a ‘normal’ body and have assigned […]

Not a bad cozy mystery

Still Life by Louise Penny

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CBR12 BINGO: No Money! I’ve noticed two trends during the pandemic that are relevant to this category: first, people seem to be taking time to declutter their homes; second, since many Goodwill stores have been closed, free stuff is often just laying about. On one of my many socially distant walks around my neighborhood, I spotted a box of mystery novels that someone was giving away. Not wanting to be greedy, I helped myself only to the first in the series, as it looked like […]

Major Insights: People on the Internet Are Racist, Like Porn, and Lie on Social Media

Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

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CBR12 BINGO: How-To I work in Marketing, and these days it’s all about data. How are you going to measure it? What does success look like? These are the mundane questions I have to answer every day, so reading this book was a bit like work. But, it fits a BINGO square, so I benefitted in the end. Also, enough interesting nuggets are included to make it mildly interesting. The main takeaway is that asking people to complete surveys is pretty pointless, because people lie […]

Heavy on the 90s Music Nostalgia

Heavy Vinyl: Y2K-0! by Carly Usdin

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Bingo Square 1: Music Heavy Vinyl: Y2K-O! could actually have fit more than one square, but I wanted to start in a corner, and Music is what I’d slotted it for, so this is where it all starts. This is book 2 in a graphic novel series that is set in a music store, whose employees form a band and compete in a battle of the bands, and who investigate wrong-doing or dishonesty in the music business. I liked volume 1 but I think either […]

cbr12bingo – Adaptation!

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

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It is 1954, and a young man named Atticus is headed home to Chicago. In Chicago he will find his beloved uncle and aunt, who together run The Safe Negro Travel Guide and Travel Agency. His uncle, like himself, is a lover of pulp novels and dime store comics. His aunt travels the country alone, adding stops to the travel guide while looking at the stars. He’ll find his little cousin, a comic-book hound and talented artist. He’ll find his old friend Titia, who has […]



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