Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“And if you say that’s because you lot barged into her home like a herd of mentally deficient sheep, I’m disowning all three of you.” (CBR12 Bingo)

The Duke and I (Bridgertons #1) by Julia Quinn

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Continuing down the road of comfort reading I’ve decided to do some rereading of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series. I first read the books in 2015 and loved them then, and I’m happy to report that after my latest reading of The Duke and I, the first book in the series,  that I’m just as pleased now as I was then. Even better, there’s a Netflix adaptation of the series on the way – season one finished filming before COVID shutdown most television production but we […]

“The only girl he liked in ages was going to kill him when she found out that he was trying to get her not to like him for a story.” (CBR12 Bingo)

Not the Girl You Marry by Andie J. Christopher

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In fulfilling the color squares that form one of the diagonals on the Bingo Card this year I have decided to go all-in with Romances. They have some of the most vibrant covers in publishing right now, and I’ve got a bunch to choose from. First up, because I feel particularly suited to choosing one at all, is the glorious violet color covered Not the Girl You Marry by Andie J. Christopher. I had every hope of this being a book for me, reviews from […]

The title of the book tells you everything you need with this one. (CBR12 Bingo)

How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems by Randall Munroe

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I laughed out loud when I saw the How To square on this year’s bingo card – days before a friend had given me Randall Munroe’s latest  How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems when I had lamented my inability lately to sink into reading anything. Her answer to that problem (and it is a good answer) was something intended to be read in small pieces and not all at once, and something that is both humorous and full of interesting information. Checks […]

“I don’t want you to keep downplaying the hurt you feel like you’re not even human. You keep it up – all these lies to yourself, to other people, and soon you’re not going to know who you are.” (CBR12 Bingo)

I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi

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My Cannonball Bingo tradition is to sit down with the square descriptions and game plan out options for what books to read for each category. I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi could qualify for several squares (this is her debut published October 2019, we read it for CBR Book Club) but I’m using it for UnCannon. The ‘Canon’ is often made up of books written by old, white men and the goal of this square is to read as far from […]

“She didn’t know how to get it—but she had a feeling that if she stuck with the Librarians for long enough, she might be able to figure it out. How to feast instead of starving. How to like the person who she was instead of fighting it.”

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

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Upright Women Wanted was one of the books I was most looking forward to in 2020. This is my first Sarah Gailey, I know them from Twitter and I’ve clocked the reviews here of their books. But the description of Upright Women Wanted caught my attention and plunked itself on my to read list. Alas, I wanted to love this book but instead I just really liked it. Its good, its comfortably three stars good but the idea and themes deserve four. Unfortunately the beginning […]

“The dark shadow of crime spreads right and left, from the Penitentiary and the Workhouse, over all the institutions, the Asylum, the Alms-House and Charity Hospital; so that, in the minds of the people at large, all suffer alike from an evil repute.”

Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal in 19th-Century New York by Stacy Horn

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Damnation Island was a book I pulled off my shelves when quarantining and social distancing began back in March. I had read Ten Days a Madwoman in February and I decided an adult non-fiction trip to Blackwell Island was needed to balance and expand the accounting in Noyes’s book. I was right, there is much important history here – particularly pertinent to our times as we reexamine and revisit the functioning of corrections, and how we as a society care for those around us. Often […]



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