Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

writing this review for bingo, and ended up in the typical place

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

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BINGO: “citizen,” as the questions of visa and citizenship and being able to stay in the US (or what to do when you can’t) occupy much of the mindspace and drives the plot. hot take prose is mostly gorgeous and compelling if overly long at times, but very rarely did I get the sense that Desai fundamentally understands the emotional arcs she’s writing about (immigrant alienation, lack of belonging, lack of place, awkwardness) or that she’s got any female friends/women she understands??? right so coming […]

notes on an absolutely barbaric practice still thriving in the US of A

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

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BINGO: “N,” how silly of me to forget. hot take maybe a slight round up, but I really did find it unputdownable towards the end This is one of those flip forward flip backwards books that walks you through (in second person, always a gutsy choice) the present day, when Ansel is scheduled to be executed, and the past, where you see through the lens of three different women “how he became who he became.” The conceit is to strip the importance of the serial […]

pay no attention to the striking workers in the corner, they won’t be a key factor in this novel nope

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

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BINGO: without much futzing I think “border” is very apt for this book, which considers the cultural divide between the North and South of England. With that comes a second (well, third) bingo line hot take it’s like pride and prejudice except pulled forward a bunch of years and we get a lot more of what’s going on in Darcy’s head (no shade meant to Ms. Gaskell for the cliche comparison) A very, very long overdue recommendation from Vatsala, who recommended the TV series (“dreamy”) […]

hot take scifi short stories are the highest art form, even if not every one lands 100%

Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell

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BINGO: Review, and with that my first EVER bingo!!!! This was a review from the always brilliant Julia, who could be argued first introduced me to the idea that books and reading could be more than just a thing that I really liked, but truly a part of my personality and how I experience joy in the world! When she recommends something, I do try my hardest to add it to the tippy top of my TBR list, although the rec for The Overstory did […]

A Good Sequel With a Great Cliffhanger

The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima

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Both Raisa and Han make their way to Oden’s Ford for schooling, their paths continue to intersect.  And unfortunately, Oden’s Ford is not the new start that both of them hoped it would be.  Old enemies are also around, and both of them struggle with some aspects of their schooling.  As Raisa and Han get closer to one another, they’re also keeping important secrets that may come back to bite them. Han is struggling with the revelations about his past and his newfound powers.  He’s […]

hot take yes this is an info dump but also I will mainline more cosmere

Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson

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BINGO: Black, it’s all over this cover There is a lot of telling instead of showing in this book, for an author who is already sort of well known (and, in some circles, sneered at) for being very tell-y. To be fair, I think it’s because Sanderson is very keen on his world and excited to tell us about it! And to be even more fair, I am a little Cosmere gremlin who will never be satisfied with details and arcana, no matter how arcane. […]



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