Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Who-dunnit and who are these people?

The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison

by 1 Comment

Bingo 10: Questions One main question of the Thara Celehar novellas is “who dunnit?’ as well as ‘why’, and that’s true of The Grief of Stones too, but also, there’s a bit of a twist about 2/3 of the way through which also adds “what will {x} do now?” Being a Witness for the Dead, someone who can see the final thoughts or images of someone who has died, it makes sense that Celehar would be involved in solving murders, as he is here, but […]

Empathy and Diversity in Xenobiology

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

by 3 Comments

Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series have been a real balm for the troubled soul. If anyone can serve up hopeful and joyous fiction in the manner of a good cuppa tea and scones, its Chambers. So it is slightly sad that find that The Galaxy, and the Ground Within  will be the last of the Wayfarers books.  Like the previous books in the series, The Galaxy, is a story about how people from different walks of like can all band together and learn off each other. […]

But the Habits of Memory Created All Kinds of False Harbours.

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

by Leave a Comment

Good Lord, I got all excited over the bingo thing, and wouldn’t you know it, I get hammered by work commitments! So it looks like this year I’ll be posting bingo-reviews late, and my reviews for the Hugo Best Novel noms after I voted   Oh well, oh well.   A Desolation Called Peace was one of those books up for the Hugo Award for Best Novel this year. And just like A Memory Called Empire before it, I think it’ll take home the top gong. […]

“Intentions always look better on paper than in reality.”

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

by Leave a Comment

Another review of a Book Club choice, 2017’s The Hate U Give. A peek behind the scenes: this one almost got left off the voting, having been popular over the years but as it’s the 30th most challenged book of the decade 2010-2019 and the fifth most challenged in 2021 the argument to include it felt justified. This YA novel was challenged and banned in school libraries and curriculums because it was considered “pervasively vulgar” and because of drug use, profanity, and offensive language. Other […]

Warrior frogs apparently isn’t enough to be interesting

Kulipari #1 by Trevor Pryce

by Leave a Comment

BINGO – Shadow Burnu is a member of the Kulipari, an elite group of frog warriors. He is tasked with finding and securing a set of scrolls that will hopefully give the frogs that advantage over their years long conflict with the reptiles. His goal is to sneak around using stealth to gather information about the scroll’s whereabouts as per his training, but that plan is quickly thwarted. The story utilizes alternating time jumps between the past when Burnu is training with his cohort of […]

“The world changed faster than I could”

Don't Cry For Me by Daniel Black

by Leave a Comment

BINGO – Minds (the narrator reflects at the end of his life in the various ways that he has changed his mind on certain truths he once believed) Jacob is dying. He knows that his time is almost up, but he has some things to resolve, namely with his son Isaac. In a series of letters to his son Isaac, Jacob tries to go back to the very beginning of his life and explain where he comes from, where their family has roots, how his […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo