Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Gnome for the holidays

Christmas Gnomes (Gnome for the Holidays) by Kelly Green and Lisa Alderson

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I was browsing through some titles the other day in an online catalog. I found Christmas Gnomes (Gnome for the Holidays) by Kelly Green and Lisa Alderson (illustrator). I did not know what the form was (and in fact, didn’t know the story) but knew I had to get it as a gift for my sister who is a gnome lover. In fact, she’s such a lover of the fuzzy capped beings that once I asked her if she minded me getting a gnome I […]

Parents! Whatcha gunna do?

The Schlemiel Kids Save the Moon by Audrey Barbakoff

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A year back the book The Schlemiel Kids Save the Moon by Audrey Barbakoff and illustrated by  Rotem Teplow came out. I found it hidden in my online reader links, so I had the pleasure of reading it that way. When I finished reading I felt that it was a cozy, silly folktale, and the usual antics that can be labeled as way too over the top and frankly stupid, were not there. I was, okay the adults are not the brightest people, but nobody […]

Bears and Burnout

Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen

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Angelica is an overachiever. She can’t help herself. She loves to be counted as someone people can rely on. But she’s not relying on her body failing her, and after burnout leaves her too numb to do much else besides lie in bed, she gets into therapy and decides to choose one project to focus on instead of ALL the projects! She lands an internship at a local theatre which is celebrating its anniversary by mounting its very first show, an adaptation of East of the […]

I wrote a long review about two books and it’s longer than the books probably…

Sun, Moon, and Star: A Folktale from Korea. by Nancy So Miller

Beatrix and Her Friends by Anne Lambelet

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Folktales have always been a go-to read for me. I enjoy learning about other cultures and seeing how they have been interpreted. Plus, I enjoy comparing them with other cultures’ stories. One true folktale (it even says so in the title) is  Sun, Moon, and Star: A Folktale from Korea. The other, while not a pure folktale, I consider her stories to be folktale adjacent. It is a biography of Beatrix Potter, aptly named, Beatrix and Friends. Nancy So Miller took an established story of […]

The Bloody Chamber

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

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I recently decided to re-read The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (it was my choice for my book group). It was as fun as I remembered. Carter’s sexy takes on traditional fairy tales like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Puss in Boots” is at times over-the-top in its prose, humor, and horror – which suits her feminist takes on damsels in all sorts of distress perfectly. She delivers a great vampire tale, “The Lady of the House of Love,” too.  But I think […]

Sometimes a beautiful cover and a simple story are enough

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

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CBR 17 BINGO: Purple (see cover) Illustrated by Victoria Sawdon It’s been five years since the publication of Piranesi, and 21 years (!) since the release of the spellbinding Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, so I know I’m not the only fan who squealed with delight at the arrival of a new (tiny) book by Susanna Clarke. I love the existence of this book, but I must warn you up front that it’s a short story, and barely that. You can read it in 20 […]



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