Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A beautiful but heartbreaking read

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor

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CW: everything (seriously, anything awful you can think of, it’s probably in this book) Bingo: Flora Without a doubt Hurricane Season is one of the best books I’ve read this year. I cannot recommend it enough, but have to warn that it is an exceptionally painful book to read. Inspired by a true story (which Melchor initially wanted to explore in a non-fiction book, but decided against due to the danger she’d expose herself to in trying to research it), Hurricane Season unspools the story of […]

A little history, a little mystery

A Deadly Penance: A Templar Knight Mystery by Maureen Ash

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The Templar Knight Mysteries are set around 1200 AD in England and feature a sleuth named Bascot de Marins, a Templar Knight who has seen action in the Holy Land, lost an eye, and acquired a mute sidekick named Gianni. I suspect that more of Bascot’s background was revealed in previous mysteries, but the reader can enjoy this one without necessarily going back to read the previous stories. Bascot is 40-ish, still fit, and a man who cares deeply for the less fortunate. He has […]

Beware: At war Or at peace, More people die Of unenlightened self-interest Than of any other disease.

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

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  Octavia Butler’s sequel to Parable of the Sower is no less prophetic than its predecessor. The language is raw and unsparing but never revels in the pain the characters go through. It is also not without its small moments of joy. The found family of Earthseed is put to the test in this book and though they do not come away unscathed they manage to survive because of their strong bonds of community and love for one another. The story picks up five years […]

Our Town, Crosby, Maine

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

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Cbr13bingo Shelfie BINGO BLACKOUT Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge reads more like a short story collection than a novel. Set in the seaside town of Crosby, Maine, this book takes the reader into the lives and histories of its inhabitants with Olive at the center of many stories and on the periphery of others. Olive is a complicated woman, prone to moodiness and judgment but also capable of deep and unexpected compassion for her neighbors. Through the relationships of Crosby’s residents, Elizabeth Strout examines […]

I think the author could have written two separate books because the multiple storylines only tenuously connect

High Water by Patty Flores Reinhart

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Bingo Number 4!!!!  One more than last year and a whole month left to go!  CBR 13 Bingo: Travel – Frankie leaves her Southern California home to find herself in Venice, Italy This book was a gift from a friend, as it was written by her friend and she wanted to be supportive, and I like books.  While there are elements that I genuinely like, biggest being the main character, there are other parts that drove me crazy.  A small detail was not knowing the […]

“I brought you a cow once, remember? And I killed that chimera for you in fifth year.”

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

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CBR Bingo: People Spoiler warning! This is book 3 in a trilogy, which wraps up a number of very important threads left dangling after the previous book. So after the brief plot summary, there WILL be spoilers in the review. If you are new to the wonderful world of Simon Snow (and Baz, and Penny and Agatha), the place to start is Carry On. This book starts pretty much immediately after our fearsome foursome (and Shepard)’s return from America to England. Simon, still in emotional […]



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