Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The continuing adventures of Will and Kim

The Sugared Game by K.J. Charles

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CBR14 Bingo – Shadow (spies and all sorts of murky shenanigans throughout the story) This is book two in a series, and it really doesn’t work very well on its own. To start from the beginning, read Slippery Creatures first. Will Darling has settled more comfortably into his role as a London bookseller but has seen nor heard anything from the mysterious Lord Arthur “Kim” Secretan for several months. He has done his best to forget all about the man and get on with his life, agreeing to […]

While you make pretty speeches, I’m being cut to shreds

Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention, and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari

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Bingo: Minds I’m conflicted about this book. Stolen Focus is, as the title says, about all the ways in which the modern world destroys our attention spans, and what we can do to help ourselves. Each chapter is about a different cause of shortened attention, and potential solutions (some individual, some global). For most of the book, I was really enjoying it. Sure, a lot of the information was stuff I already knew, but with a lot more detail and nuance than I’d read before. Johann Hard […]

Dying’s not so bad. At least I won’t have to answer the telephone.

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

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Bingo: New (new author to me) This graphic novel is Roz Chast’s memoir about her parents’ aging and eventual death. It’s a dark topic! But the book itself is highly entertaining. Chast’s parents, George and Elizabeth, lived their entire lives in Brooklyn. Chast was born fairly late into their marriage, after they suffered a stillbirth several years before her birth. One day, when her parents were in their 80s, her mother fell. This was the beginning of a downward slope in health for both of […]

A love letter to Arthurian legend told through inclusive re-imaginings

Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices by Edited by: Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington

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Thank you, llamareadsbooks for gifting this book to me in the CBR Book Exchange! CBR14 Bingo: “Time” – This anthology moves through time, from the ancient past to the far future. Sword Stone Table first came to my awareness through emmalita’s review.  When narfna reviewed it a few weeks ago, it prompted me to move it to the top of the read pile.  I have a deep affection for stories about King Arthur and Camelot that probably started with the Disney animated version, was strengthened by […]

I Finally Got There—I Finally Read Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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Caution, mild spoilers ahead. I have tried not to explain too much beyond the blurb in this review, but I don’t think I can talk about Project Hail Mary properly without pulling back the curtain—just a little—on one of the major plot points. It probably won’t be a huge deal as this book has been out a while, and I suspect most people are probably already conscious of the little point I want to reveal, even if they haven’t read the book. But I just […]

Behold the communication device of the future!

How It Works: The Telephone by Ladybird Books

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CBR14 BINGO: Series, because this book is part of the Ladybird “How it Works” series published in the 1970s. I never pass a Little Free Library without checking out what’s on offer, and one day a few weeks ago I struck gold. Never has one person’s trash become such a treasure. Thanks to Ladybird Books, I was about to learn about how telephones work, or at least how they worked in 1972. This book begins with some history of the telephone and why we need […]



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