Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Honey girl, I don’t care what you do, as long as you’re kind to everyone you meet.”

Saga, Volume 9 by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples

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I’ve been putting off reading the latest volume of Saga since I had heard it was devastating and that there would be at least a year hiatus until Vaughan and Staples picked back up working on this. Why sit with whatever terrible, soul crushing experience was waiting for me for over a year when I could just live with not knowing for the same amount of time? Well, I abandoned that perfectly solid plan and gave in to temptation. It was just sitting there in […]

“You’ll never understand the way the worlds really work until you surround yourself with people from all sorts of weird backgrounds.”

Saga: Volumes Five through Eight by Brian K. Vaughan (writer), Fiona Staples (artist)

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I’ve finally finished the remaining available volumes of Saga. At the end of Four I was devastated, I both simultaneously wanted to start the next volume immediately and knew I wasn’t emotionally ready for it. Instead, I went on vacation, came back, and then slowly continued my journey through Hazel’s story. These books continue to be fantastic and I am in awe of what Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples partnership has managed to accomplish. *As a note, I am refusing to grade these against […]

“There are only three forms of high art: the symphony, the illustrated children’s book and the board game.” (CBR10Bingo)

Saga: Volumes One through Four by Brian K. Vaughan (writer), Fiona Staples (artist)

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Other than clocking everyone’s rave reviews (nope not Cannonballer Says square yet) I have been staying away from the world of Saga on purpose. I have an inclination to wait for series to be near its conclusion before I pick it up. But I’m not made of stone. My friend Gina hand delivered the first eight volumes to me while we were on vacation last month. It seemed Saga’s time had arrived. These books are *fantastic*.  I always knew they would be: the swath of […]

“Now we have to somehow un-fuck everybody.”

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

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Quick Review: This is a very good YA debut by Angie Thomas and it is important reading to be done in this cultural climate in the United States. Thomas clearly, and evocatively, brings the reader into the layered life of a black teen in today’s United States with its systemic racism. It reminded me of of my own history, and my lived experience, and grew it out. But it isn’t a primer in the way that Between the World and Me is, it is a […]

Banned Book Week Selection

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Over the past few years I have begun to pay attention to reading books by or about members of the LGBTQ community. In general, I’ve tried to be more aware of my reading habits and expand them generally. It was a boon to me then that one of the tasks for Read Harder challenge was read a book by or about a person who identifies as transgender. I shortlisted three, but decided to go with Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin as […]

Allende is a Goddess

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, translated by Magda Bogin

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There is so much that Isabel Allende weaves into her writing, it is simply astounding. There is so much history, allegory, and personal stakes woven into the story of one family that it is almost impossible to know where to start. How have I not read this before? Why the holy fucking hell did I have to read Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis when this existed in the world. I COULD HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE STUDY OF LITERARY WORKS IN CONTEXT THROUGH THE STUDY OF WORKS IN […]



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