Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A story that grabs the characters literally (you figuratively)

Shadow Hills by Sean Ford

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While I don’t not think that Shadow Hills by Sean Ford is “OMG BEST BOOK EVER” there was something about it that “grabbed me.” The surface stories are a plague story and an environmental story. But there is also family dynamics at play for two of the main characters. Brothers Cal and Will’s story might be ending but sisters Annie and Dana are starting new. The town is a mess and the ooze (a tar like goop that devours/covers its victims) makes things worse. What […]

If Disney’s WALL-E met Noah’s Ark and narrated by all the nature hosts you know

The Last Zookeeper by Aaron Becker

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is known for their wordless picture books. And The Last Zookeeper is another gem in that genre.  It is always funny to me to write a review about a book with no words. There is a quote from Jane Goodall at the start, but that is it in this  due mid-March 2024 Disney’s WALL-E meets Noah’s Ark story. The theme is simple, environmentalism. However, it goes deeper. The emotional pull of what happens if we do not pay attention to our world and that environment is […]

Twisted

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

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Oryx and Crake is the first installment in the Maddaddam trilogy, a dystopian future with a liberal dose of gene splicing at its core. The novel is told through the perspective of “Snowman”/Jimmy, a depressed man, clothed in a bedsheet, presiding over a gaggle of ‘Children of Crake’ – innocent genetically engineered people living in a ruined world. Through his reflections, with learn about Jimmy and the world that was. We learn of the red-hot gene splicing industry, creating smart Pigoons, delicious Chickienobs, and adorable […]

Yippe for Ype (oh you know I’m not the first to say that joke!)

The Last Gay Man on Earth by Ype Driessen

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CBR15Passport country The Last Gay Man on Earth is both too short and just the right length for reading. And while I did want more, I figure I can wait for the sequel. Ype Driessen allows us to look into his life of crazy, wonderful people, places and his own imposter syndrome (and by the way, he has imposter syndrome about having imposter syndrome). I fell in love with him a few pages in (the work was not going to get done because he was […]

“There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

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I’m glad my kiddo had the occasion to read this book for school which nudged me to revisit it! I owned a copy (which I think is now battered at the bottom of his backpack) but nothing beats telling your kid, “Oh? What book? Yeah, we have that one.” I can’t imagine a summary of this classic is needed, buuut just in case, Bradbury basically foretold the future in that his novel is in a future world where books are outlawed and firemen, instead of […]

Harper and Sam running for their lives 

Black Star by Eric Anthony Glover

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 CBR15Passport, already own I read an interesting graphic novel. There are interesting illustrations that support, compliment, and become its own character. The equally interesting text can be taken “as is” and straightforward, or you can look for a deeper meaning. This is not a onetime read, as there are several parts and a few layers. What is this graphic novel called? Black Star by Eric Anthony Glover (or Eric A. Glover or Eric Glover depending on what source you are using, and since the book […]



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