Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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 […]

“What broke your heart so completely that its splinters found their way through generations?”

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova

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CBR13Bingo: Uncannon a beautiful work of fantasy that tells one story of generational trauma in fantastical terms Magical realism isn’t usually my thing, but I couldn’t resist that unbelievably gorgeous cover. And I am ever so glad I picked this book up. It’s about generational trauma and making a home and family secrets, about how bringing those secrets into the light can wound and heal. “Orquídea was so many things: evasive, silent, mean, secretive, loving, and a liar.” Orquídea Montoya was born unlucky, but early on she […]

“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 […]

Walter Does His Best, and so do the rest of us

Walter Does His Best by Eva Pilgrim

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In Walter Does His Best by Eva Pilgrim, Walter is a good dog, or at least he tries really hard to be. Kids will enjoy his misadventures – digging in the neighbor’s garden, giving up his seat on the subway, helping ducks to cross the street – even though his owner certainly does not. As each of Walter’s attempts to help go ever more and more awry, the illustrations and text get more outrageous, and more hilarious – the page where Walter tries to impress […]

Octavia Butler Predicted MAGA

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

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Cbr13bingo Reader’s Choice (sub for New Series), bingo #12 Book two of Octavia Butler’s Earthseed Series delivers an astounding gut punch follow-up to Parable of the Sower. Her imagining of what would happen in America’s future is frighteningly accurate. Set in the 2030s and beyond, Parable of the Talents takes us back to Northern California and the Earthseed community known as Acorn. Lauren Oya Olamina and her followers have escaped the upheaval and violence of Southern California and built a commune based on the principles […]



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