Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Ah, the sweet autumnal smell of love. (CBR11 Bingo)

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, Faith Erin Hicks

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I was always going to love this book. If there was a book created for me, this would be it. All its missing to make it absolute perfection is a focus on the color purple. Its set in my favorite season, specifically on my personal high holy day (Halloween), featuring an adventure, some unrequited/unacknowledged love, pumpkins, snacks, and a goat on the loose. Seriously, Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks nailed this delightful story of two friends spending their last night at work together before […]

Why Shouldn’t Quiet Be Strong? (CBR11 Bingo)

Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert’s Story by Debbie Tung

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I love a list, LOVE them. When Bingo is unveiled I happily settle in and draft up what books I want to read for what squares, cross-referencing them with my other reading challenges to see which books might cross-pollinate, and finally devise a schedule to try to get a Blackout by the time Bingo wraps up. It worked perfectly last year as I snuck in just under the wire with my 25th review. This year its been a slightly more bumpy road, two months in […]

“And in taking on the subject of themselves-making themselves vulnerable to the unseen reader-they have exchanged powerlessness for the power that comes with self-awareness.” (CBR11 Bingo)

Couldn’t Keep it to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters by Wally Lamb and the Women of the York Correctional Institution

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The task list for one of my challenges strikes again. Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge includes a book written in prison. I was struggling to decide what to read for this one, I wasn’t particularly interested in reading a book by the type of criminal who would be the type to get a book deal in the first place. Then a bit of internet research led me to this collection edited by Wally Lamb of the work the women of the writing group he co-facilitates […]

Third Book A Bit Meh, Honestly (CBR11 Bingo)

The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

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Sometimes I just don’t want to write a review, but I feel the need to do it anyway, just to purge the book from my system and make room for the next. It usually happens with the mediocre books, the ones where you think “well, that was fine I suppose”. That is exactly how I feel about Jasmine Guillory’s third book The Wedding Party. It was decidedly fine. When I read The Wedding Date last year I noted that her debut showed the possibilities of […]

“Finally, if you’re wondering if it counts and it feels like it counts, it counts.” (CBR11 Bingo)

Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi

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When Rainbow Rowell says a book is her favorite of the year, I am going to add it to my to-read list and am likely to track it down relatively quickly. In the case of Mary H.K. Choi’s Emergency Contact it fitting into a Bingo Square category (Youths!) made it all the better. Let’s get the big verdict out of the way early: this debut is very good and Choi does the thing that I like best about Rowell’s work, she builds imperfect and entirely […]

“It’s quite exciting,” said Sherlock Holmes, with a yawn.” (CBR11 Bingo)

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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My previous Sherlock experiences have all centered around visual adaptations, starting with The Great Mouse Detective (1986), but #CannonBookClub is always pushing me to read new to me things. My mind’s eye had a very specific versions of Holmes and Watson cobbled together over many incarnations Watson, to me, is an intelligent everyman who is aware of the things he does not know – as well as being a man of responsibility and duty. Sherlock is a bit testy, has a bit of tunnel vision […]



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