Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“There is more than one kind of freedom. . . . Freedom to and freedom from.”

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

by Leave a Comment

I’ve had The Handmaid’s Tale on my shelf for many months now, but I’ve been avoiding starting it. I wanted to read it, but I felt like I had to be in a certain (untroubled) emotional state to face it, and that’s been a tall order these past couple of years. I recently braced myself and got down to business. Of course I already knew the premise: In the near-future, after the U.S. government has been overthrown and replaced by a patriarchal, Cristhian theonomy, women […]

How a victim is made a villain

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

by Leave a Comment

Three years ago, I reviewed Tiffany D. Jackson’s YA novel Monday’s Not Coming. It’s one of those novels that stays with you long after you’ve read it due to the tragic subject matter and Jackson’s excellent writing. Grown, published in 2020, is another powerful YA novel that tackles disturbing subject matter taken from today’s headlines. This time, Jackson writes a story inspired by R. Kelly and the abuse of young Black girls at the hands of a powerful and famous man. This is not an […]

Not sure if it sparked joy, but it did provide me with some handy tips

Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

by 2 Comments

About seven months ago, my husband and I moved temporarily into a small apartment while our home undergoes major renovations. Most of our “stuff” is in boxes in our garage awaiting the day we move back in and unpack. I’ve been looking forward to that event with a mixture of excitement and horror. Remodeling presents us with a clean slate–a chance to organize ourselves and our belongings in a way that will be efficient and aesthetically pleasing. To be frank, I’m worried I’m gonna fuck […]

Contemporary Eros and Psyche – the hitman and the influencer

Electric Idol by Katee Robert

by 1 Comment

Psyche Demetriou wishes her mother would stop trying to push her at the most powerful men in Olympus to arrange a solid business alliance. She’s used to pretending to be shallow and vain, as well as deaf to all the voices who try to tear her down for her social position or body shape. She misses the quiet life before her mother became hugely powerful and sees the good in everyone, to the point where she spends time patching up dangerous hitman Eros at a […]

Why show when you can just tell?

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

by 7 Comments

Have you seen Mare of Eastown? This is a lot like that. But without coffee from Wawa. And without Jean Smart. And without good writing or realistic characters. If you’ve seen that, no need to read this. Really, no need to read this at all. I had the mystery solved before the first chapter had ended and tortured myself to finish to prove I was right. Chloe Davis is an amazingly brilliant and wonderful young psychologist living in Baton Rouge. We know she is amazingly […]

The Trouble with Peace is discontent, greed, and ambition

The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie

by Leave a Comment

The Trouble with Peace is the second book in Joe Abercrombie’s “Age of Madness” trilogy.  Here is my review for the first book, A Little Hatred .  Following immediately on the heels of events in the fist book, an uneasy peace has been established.  The Union crushed the rebellion in Valbek and the war in the North was brought to an end.  However, hardly anyone is happy about how things turned out. Despite two hundred hangings, the appetite for workers’ rights has only increased and other […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo