Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Am I not merciful?”

Illuminae Files (The Illuminae Files #1) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

by 3 Comments

In five(ish) words: space opera, young adult, aritificial intelligence, romance, violence. I don’t read a ton of YA but was on the hunt for a good audiobook and this one was recommended by two people as the best audiobook they had EVER listened to. Bold claim? Yes. But now that I’ve read it, I’m on board. It is really that good. It was a complete audio experience, like listening to a play or an old timey radio show (or I guess a new-timey podcast?) with […]

Classic Sci-Fi: Should you read it? Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

by Leave a Comment

Classic Sci-Fi: Should You Read It? is a self-imposed project in which I read pre-1990 science fiction novels and categorize them as “classis sci-fi you should read,” “classic sci-fi you should read if you’re all hardcore about it,” or “classic sci-fi you don’t have to read.” For background on my project, please see the introduction to my review of 1984. Fahrenheit 451 is inevitable for my classic sci-fi reading project because it’s on EVERY must-read list, I didn’t read it in high school like everybody […]

Classic Sci-Fi: Should you read it? 1984

1984 by George Orwell

by 7 Comments

CSF:SYRI? Background For the past couple years I’ve been working on my own little reading project. I love the sci-fi genre with my entire heart. I also went to a weird religious middle and high school and I missed reading a bunch of classics. A couple years ago I finally read Slaughterhouse 5 and y’all, it is great! What other classic sci-fi have I been missing out on, I wondered, and tried to research the best I could. Of course the internet has all kinds of […]

The Nazi Handmaid’s Tale

Widowland by C.J. Carey

by Leave a Comment

In a 1953 England under the control of German forces, life is good for Rose Ransom, a member of the privileged Geli class – or at least as good as life can be for a woman in the oppressive regime. But when she is given the task of infiltrating Widowland in search of possible subversives, she comes to learn she might have more power than she always thought. The premise of this book caught my eye immediately. I haven’t really read alternate history books before, […]

The Autobiography of a Narcissistic Psychopath

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

by Leave a Comment

Coriolanus Snow’s only way to rebuild his family’s legacy is to have his tribute make a good showing in the 10th Hunger Games. But when he starts to become interested in Lucy Gray, he wonders if it might be possible for her to actually win them. I put off reading this book for a long time, scared off by mixed reviews from other fans of the Hunger Games series. It’s certainly a different type of story, but I ended up appreciating this new perspective into […]

“It turned out that some crooked things looked even worse when straightened. Some tangled knots only made sense once unraveled.”

Wool by Hugh Howey

by 1 Comment

I know it’s only January 20th so this is a bold claim, but Wool is going to be on my top 10 list of books I read in 2024. This novel started as a standalone short story “Holston,” but upon its publication and soaring popularity, Howey wrote four more stories that have now been bound together in this first volume. And it gripped me from page one through the very end. This is exactly the kind of book that I love to read in winter, […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo