Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“You’re stuck loving only hearts that can stop beating.”

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

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CBR Passport – 4, new to me author; 3 – different genre – this was a mix between fiction and, given the amount that is drawn from the author’s real life, a sort of memoir I’ll start this review with a content warning – Catherine Newman’s popular novel, her only novel to date as she mostly writes non-fiction essays and children’s books, is about the death of her childhood friend. Edi, based on Newman’s real friend Ali, is dying of cancer. I know that many […]

Be the funny

Be the Bus: The Lost & Profound Wisdom of the Pigeon. by Mo Willems

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Have you found the word of The Pigeon? Have you taken The Pigeon into your soul and heart? And I do not mean just any ol’ pigeon, but the pigeon of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! If not, you need this handy-dandy little gem called Be the Bus: The Lost & Profound Wisdom of the Pigeon. Mo Willems is at his best when we get sage advice such as Let me be the first to say that everything has already been said. Or […]

Put a little farm in your life

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World by Mia Wenjen

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CBR15Passport Different genres (non-fiction/Sustainable agriculture for children)There is nothing like not being in the mood to read or to read the book you have in front of you. It colors your feelings about the book, to say the least, but it also makes an overall unsatisfying experience. I always feel like I have missed something when this happens. And I had a moment like that with Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World. I read it online as an Edelweiss reader copy. That […]

The Real Gamer

Blips on a Screen: How Ralph Baer Invented TV Video Gaming and Launched a Worldwide Obsession by Kate Hannigan

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CBR15Passport, Different genres (A non-fiction book/biography in picture book format not “novel”) My reading of Blips on a Screen: How Ralph Baer Invented TV Video Gaming and Launched a Worldwide Obsession made me realize that, well duh someone had to invent video games, but as a very much non-gamer (I mean, my Mario Cart went into the water! My friend I was with didn’t even realize you could do that) I had no idea who that person would be. Kate Hannigan’s picture book biograph of […]

Well-behaved women seldom make history

Rima's Rebellion: Courage in a Time of Tyranny by Margarita Engle

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CBR15Passport Book I own Rima’s Rebellion: Courage in a Time of Tyranny is an interesting book. First, it is prose poetry and while that is usually a good thing for me, I am not sure this was the best format for the subject. Second, it is confusing what age(s) it is aimed for. The tone of the book is for a middle-grade reader (at least aged 10 and up), but the subject matter is more mature. If this was Margarita Engle’s first novel, that bump […]

‘The Habsburgs were the first rulers whose power encompassed the world, and they achieved greatness by luck and by force.’

The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power by Martyn Rady

In The Last Emperor of Mexico: The Dramatic Story of the Habsburg Archduke Who Created a Kingdom in the New World by Edward Shawcross

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For all the royal watching going on right now, its the British Royal Family that’s hugging the spotlight. And, really, how could they not? Liz the Second—who we all thought was destined to live forever—shockingly popped her clogs last year. And now her grandson seems to be taking his turn airing out the dirty laundry, much to people’s delight. But the lives of royals are always ripe for high drama, if you are into that kind of thing. So I’m going to ring in the […]



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