Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Learn, Baby, Learn

Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco by Richie Narvaez

by Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR16Bingo: Disco. The book is set in the 1970s, in New York City, has a prominent theme at a discotheque and has the word “disco” in the title. Imagine if Harriet the Spy was a high school girl of Hispanic descent in 70s Brooklyn and you’d have the vibe of this one. There are two stories here, one about Holly and the other about Xander. I don’t want to spoil them but the dueling narratives do not imply an unlikely friendship. […]

Heretics

Dissolution by CJ Sansom

by Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR16 Bingo: Horses. This book features people riding horses as a practical matter because it’s set in the 15th century.  First of all: RIP CJ Sansom. I didn’t know until I started this that he had recently died, and sadly just before Shardlake, a tv series based on these books, was released on Hulu. I read Sansom’s Dominion years ago and thought it was decent. I grabbed this not long after but eventually gave up on keeping it, as I just needed to clear […]

“I can love you. I can grieve for you, or with you. I can share your pain. But I cannot judge you.”

Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold

by Leave a Comment

CBR16 Bingo: Détente (Cordelia and Aral start out as enemies and end up married) Official book summary (read this in early May): In her first trial by fire, Cordelia Naismith captained a throwaway ship of the Betan Expeditionary Force on a mission to destroy an enemy armada. Discovering deception within deception, treachery within treachery, she was forced into a separate peace with her chief opponent, Lord Aral Vorkosigan – he who was called “The Butcher of Komarr” – and would consequently become an outcast on […]

Lost Paradise or Far Flung Trailer Park

The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania, and Mutiny in the South Pacific by Brandon Presser

by Leave a Comment

CBR16 Bingo – Bananas: A lot of people eat a lot of bananas across several centuries and a number of South Pacific islands. Also, this story is utterly bananas. Several centuries after the mutineers from the HMS Bounty settled Pitcairn Island, author Brandon Presser goes to visit this isolated place, where he tries to understand how the bloody and conflicted past has shaped the present day lives of the descendants. Considering how much I enjoy true crime and strange stories, it’s probably odd that I […]

“Women without prospect, who lead dull earnest lives and rejoice in their petty little pseudo-pleasures, I find quite depressing and despicable.”

The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon, Meredith McKinney (Translator)

by Leave a Comment

CBR16 Bingo: Vintage – Not only is this a very old book (written about a thousand years ago!), but it is also very much of its time, cataloguing minute happenings in the Empress’s court and listing out the common tastes of the time. Once there was an empress who gave her attendant a bundle of writing paper for making a witty remark. To highlight what a cultured place this court was, the attendant decided to record an amusing hodgepodge of anecdotes, poetry, and things both […]

Three short novels that lack for nothing

Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Short Novels by Katherine Anne Porter

by Leave a Comment

Cbr16bingo Horses  This collection of three novellas- “Old Mortality, “Noon Wine” and “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”- was originally published in 1939. Each story involves characters whose illusions — about themselves and/or their families — are eventually stripped away, forcing them to face hard realities. Some are not up to it while others find the strength to move onward.  “Old Mortality” is divided into three parts and focuses on the point of view of a girl named Miranda. She and her older sister Maria are part […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo