Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

…the generation that was born with planes, with the flights full of bags..

The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez

by 1 Comment

CBR15 PASSPORT COMPLETED! (Stamp #15: Books from other countries) CBR15 BINGO (South America square: Colombian author, set in Colombia, Translated from Spanish) I was very excited to pick up this book when looking for a contender for the South American bingo square. My husband and I have fallen down the Narcos rabbit hole on Netflix. So, a novel about Bogatá? Mentions Escobar’s hippos? Yes, please and thank you. Antonio is a law professor living in the city he was born and raised in: Bogotá. After […]

Definitely Not a Comic Book

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

by 1 Comment

When I read that my local High School had removed the graphic memoir Almost American Girl by Robin Ha from their summer reading list, I had to read it. The school board members called it a comic book. Well, I am sure glad this book hit my radar because it is excellent. I strongly feel that most high school kids would benefit from reading it. Let me start by saying I do not like reading graphic novels. My brain is not wired to enjoy reading […]

The Magic of Making Yourself a Home

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

by Leave a Comment

Witches keep to themselves for their own good.  Mingling with other witches is an invitation for trouble and against the rules.  At least that’s what Mika has always been told.  And she’s used to it; like all witches, Mika’s an orphan and was raised by a succession of nannies and tutors.  Her only contact with other witches is on the third Thursday of every third month.   However, when she gets a message online asking her to come and tutor three young witches at Nowhere House, […]

Handing trauma down the line

Denizen by James Mackenzie Watson

by Leave a Comment

Bingo: Violence; Passport: Bush noir Denizen is one of the most disturbing books I have ever read.  I bought it thinking I was getting another “bush noir” – an Australian crime subgenre focussed on rural murders. What I actually got was a lot more interesting, but also much more confronting.  I think my Kindle skipped over the warning at the front that “this book depicts mental ill health and self harm” as its dark turn took me by surprise.  The narrative has a familiar crime […]

“So thank God, quite literally, for music”

Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan

by Leave a Comment

Bingo: On Air Passport: Interview Faith, Hope and Carnage documents a series of conversations between musician Nick Cave and journalist Seán O’Hagan. The long and intimate relationship between the collaborators and Cave’s ease with self-examination have enabled this book to dig much deeper than the standard rock star memoir. This project was born out of the pandemic. In March 2020 Cave’s world tour was cancelled, and all the work put into preparing his Ghosteen album for live performance had come to nothing, bringing an extraordinary […]

Should I call this wholesome? Yeah. Yeah, I’m gonna call this wholesome.

The Resort (Room for 3 Book 1) by Ana Ashley

by Leave a Comment

CBR15Bingo: Dwelling square CBR15Passport: Travel your bookshelf Jake just wants to get through the summer. He only has another week left before he can hang up his hotel housekeeping uniform and head back to school. But a chance encounter with a very hot couple is not something he had been expecting. Back at school, he tries to get the mysterious couple out of his mind, but he can’t. Eventually, he forces himself to leave it in the past and instead focus on the future: working […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo