Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“But somehow I’m still here, and he’s still here, and even though I still feel like a hopeless case, this thing between us doesn’t feel hopeless at all.”

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

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CBR 13 Bingo Square: Shelfie THIS BOOK!  After having reread Carry On and Wayward Son, I was primed for Any Way the Wind Blows.  I devoured it so quickly that I immediately reread to be able to slow down and better absorb the story.   Rowell brings the Simon Snow trilogy to a satisfying close but what an emotional journey to get there.  Carrying their hearts on their sleeves, Simon and Baz are so vulnerable and continually bracing for the pain that might come.  Penelope’s decisions and the […]

Growing up brown in Norway is no picnic

Hør Her'a! (Listen here!) by Gulraiz Sharif

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CBR13 Bingo: Free (borrowed at the library) Official book description (translated by me): It is summer vacation and fifteen-year-old Mahmoud is imagining long days on the bench outside his building with his friend, one-eyed Arif. This summer will be different, however, because the family is getting a visit from Uncle-ji from Pakistan and Mahmoud’s job will be to show his uncle around. Uncle-ji is very surprised at what he sees in Norway, and what is going on with Ali, Mahmoud’s little brother, who is not […]

A hilarious and cheeky take on who Jesus (Joshua) was growing up, before becoming the Messiah

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

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CBR13 Bingo Square: Pandemic – I highly recommend reading this during a pandemic, the laughs were needed! No disrespect to Christopher Moore but had I not procrastinated I would have seen Jenny Lawson in conversation with either Felicia Day or Neil Gaiman for her Broken (in the best possible way) promotion.  However, I’m grateful I did as this was my first event with Moore and he was highly entertaining!  Lawson shared that Lamb is her favorite book by him which instantly put it on my […]

Horizontal is just the way some of us live

Horizontal Parenting How to Entertain Your Kid While Lying Down by Michelle Woo

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Guys: I don’t even know how to explain to you how validating this book is.  I’ve been helping raise kids, while also living with chronic debilitating illnesses & disabilities for 27 years now.  Very often, that raising occurs from a horizontal position, out of necessity.  Oh, today we’re have vertigo for no goddamn reason? Great day to play Auntie NTE is the troll under the bridge who won’t let you pass. Oh, goodie, the treatment I had last week that was supposed to only have 1 […]

Johnson isn’t all Wet

Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton

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cbr13bingo Machinery   I wanted to do another book for Machinery (an interesting interpretation actually) but stumbled on this book by accident. I had an opportunity to read and enjoy. The definition of machinery is the parts of a non-organic/non-living item all having their place and job to do and are not organic in the way my other pick was. And Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions is the perfect definition. Inspired by an activity Chris Barton did at a conference (you learn of […]

When your buddy has a real chip on his shoulder

Murderbot Diaries All Systems Red by Martha Wells

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cbr13bingo  Rec’d (by y’all) What can I say about Murderbot Diaries All Systems Red that has not already been said? I have nothing new to add to the conversation about Martha Wells series. Only (for those who have not read) this first novella deals with the idea of what is human and what is robot. It asks can a robot be “human” or at least human-like? Can one make that choice themselves or must someone or something validate them, make them “legitimate”? I told a […]



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