Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“New City, Who Dis?”

The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin

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I discovered N.K. Jemisin through The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms trilogy.  Loved the first two, was very ‘meh’ about the third.  Then The Fifth Season erupted onto the scene and blew my mind with such a creative fantasy, Jemisin became an auto-buy author.  She hasn’t disappointed me yet and The World We Make is another excellent entry in her list of works. In Jemisin’s world, cities have the ability to awaken.  When enough people live in them, when the idea of the city’s identity becomes a belief […]

You know how you can make it up to me? MURDER

The Bridesmaid by Ruth Rendell

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3.5 stars I’ve read and enjoyed quite a few books by Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine, so this caught my eye. Philip is an absolutely run-of-the-mill man: decent looking, recently out of college, working in a field he pretty much likes and with dreams of bigger things, living with his mom and sister, just out of a relationship because he wasn’t ready to/couldn’t commit as fully as his ladyfriend wanted him to. You know, regular guy. His relationships with his mom and two sisters — all of […]

For I had seen with startling clarity that the two are connected, the fall of New Bethany and the rise of Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

The Magic Kingdom by Russell Banks

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Closing out CBR14 with a whimper, not a bang, folks. This is one of those books that I’m sure will get rave reviews. There are probably countless deep dives out there about how this book is an indictment of capitalism. And it is. It is about a lot of relevant things, but it’s also very boring. The story of a boy who grew into adulthood within various utopian societies throughout the United States should be interesting at least. But it isn’t. I’m going to blame […]

For you the entire world will still be too little.

Miss Moriarty, I Presume? by Sherry Thomas

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This is book 6 in the Lady Sherlock Series. Forge ahead if you are already reading. Stop and grab the first 5 if you have not. Fresh from solving cases and dodging death, Charlotte, Lord Ingram, and Mrs. Watson are “hired” by their nemesis, Moriarty, to check on the welfare of his daughter. Well, more strong-armed than hired, to be honest. Moriarity claims his daughter is under the thrall of a religious cult and is being kept at its compound in a remote seaside town. […]

Embarrassment, as it turns out, is more powerful than information. And shame is the enemy of truth.

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

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This is one of those books that I will be thinking about long after I finished it. When, in 1955, hundreds of thousands of women of all ages spontaneously turn into dragons, the government’s official statement is that the women “disappeared.” Scientists who defy the government’s gaslighting call it the “Mass Dragoning” and begin to study the phenomenon. Much of that study is driven undergound by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Meanwhile, families are left to pick through the wreckage, both literally and figuratively, of […]

“…we’re the dream that humanity creates to make sense of the shadows on the cave wall.”

American Gods: Author’s Preferred Text by Neil Gaiman

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I watched the first season American Gods on Starz back in the day, and I really enjoyed it but never bothered with the rest of the series once I heard that the show runner and several stars were out of the project. I’ve had the novel on my shelf ever since, but its length (500+ pages) was a little off-putting. It’s a funny thing though that the “long” stories are often the ones that read the fastest while the “short” ones can be a slog. […]



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