Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Who knew a book with “bleak” in the title could be so much fun? (with helpful charts!)

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

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Bleak House has been brooding on my TBR list for years because, even though I’m a long-time Dickens fan, I was intimidated by the length and by what I perceived would be a weighty novel. I’m ecstatic that I overcame my hesitance, because this novel was more fun than a mariachi band on a roller coaster. Sure, about 9 people die, but you can’t make gruel without smashing a few oats, right? There are so many characters that the death toll amounts to maybe 12%, and […]

A Frothy Venture into the Fashion Media World

The Knockoff by Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza

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What if Miranda Priestly was nice, but also had to deal with a changing media landscape and an upstart editor who thinks she’s future of fashion media? That’s the general premise of The Knockoff. Imogen Tate is the Editor in Chief of Glossy magazine, a fashion mag that’s supposed to be similar in status to Vogue. Imogen is returning to work after a 6-month sabbatical during which she underwent cancer treatment. She comes back expecting the status quo, but is surprised to find her former […]

A Road Trip With the Stupidest Girl Alive

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

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Ok, I’m starting to get the complaints about Riley Sager. When I read Final Girls and The Last Time I Lied I enjoyed them and didn’t really understand the negativity around Sager as an author. But with Survive the Night I think I get it. I thought I’d really like it, but honestly it was just meh. I’m beginning to see why people whose opinions I trust don’t think highly of Sager’s work. Let’s start with the premise. Charlie is dropping out of college after […]

Dipping My Toe Into Sanderson’s Oeuvre

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

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Tress is a lower-class girl on Diggen’s Point, a tiny rock that barely qualifies as an island, but whose industry – salt mining – is too vitally important to the kingdom’s safety to allow anyone to immigrate elsewhere. Salt, in fact, is one of the few things (alongside silver) that keep people safe from the spores that fall from the moons and make up the seas that cover the world. Tress is a window washer, a collector of cups from faraway places, an adept bargainer, […]

The making of a wizard

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

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The thrill that comes from reading a classic of any particular genre is you get to see the early formation of that particular class of fiction. That can also be a problem, as the object of inspiration often leads to greater literary feats that can sometimes make the early attempts feel underwhelming. That’s sort of how I felt about the first three books in the Earthsea series, though I definitely got more engaged as I made my way through the trio. A Wizard of Earthsea […]

Oh the weather outside is frightful!

Season of Love by Helena Greer

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I was sorry to miss the recent Zoom with Helena Greer. I was not quite finished with this, her first novel when it occurred but more importantly life was kind of imploding here. Season of Love was just the right book to be reading — a romance set during the holiday season in a cold snowy upstate New York. It’s sort of like one of those Hallmark movies but this time for lesbians. Unlike a Hallmark movie though it gets into some heavy areas regarding […]



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