Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

If there is a whale, there is a way

Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly

Heartbeat by Evan Turk.

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I was a bit disappointed with the end of Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly. I would have liked Iris (our hero of this adventure) to have done something other than what she did at the end. While it was understandable the choice she made (as her options both had valid arguments), her choice was in line with the theme of going out on a limb, out of our comfort zone and trying something new. Kelly has written a well written and fairly non-preachy […]

If you don’t like the cold snow, try this warm treat

When the Snow Falls by Linda Booth Sweeney

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I liked the cover art of When the Snow Falls illustrated by Jana Christy. I was hoping the text by Linda Booth Sweeney would be as big of a hit. Unfortunately, it was not. Spoiler: The fact that all the sudden the parents disappear, and the kids are now at Grandma’s house is odd. They went from the country to the city in what seems like a blink. The one scene that looks like travel happens is the grandmother is pushing the children in a […]

“My father was dying and I was pregnant. Both struck me as impossibly unreal.”

Brother, I'm dying by Edwidge Danticat

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Do you like to cry? Do you like to be reminded about sadness, loss and the general unfairness of the world. Then boy! Do I have the book for you. In the very first chapter we follow a daughter as she takes her dying father to the hospital, and then later in the living room at home when he gathers the family turns to his wife and asks “What would you like to happen after I am gone?” So there we are, not just in […]

Each person is a new adventure and some of those adventures are disturbing

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

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This book, is a very practical and blunt statement about the part of life people don’t want to think about. People die, and when that happens someone has to take the time and the care to prepare the body. You will learn quickly if this book is for you or if it isn’t. It is gross, and it has a morbid sense of humor that is obviously needed to get through a job where death is in your face every day, sometimes quite literally. Some […]

A defiant girl in a man’s world

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

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4.5 stars Spoiler warning! This is book 2 in a trilogy, and the story pretty much follows on directly from the ending of the previous book. This book, while very good, doesn’t really stand on its own, you would do much better to start at the beginning, with The Bear and the Nightingale.  There are roving gangs of bandits travelling the countryside around Moscow, pillaging and burning the villages and abducting young girls. Prince Dimitri sends his cousin, brother Alexandr, affectionately known to his family as Sasha, […]

Not a Selfie Stick in sight (thank goodness)

Me, Myselfie & I: A Cautionary Tale by Jamie Lee Curtis

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Me, Myselfie & I: A Cautionary Tale is the latest compilation from author (also actress and all around busy gal) Jamie Lee Curtis and the wonderful illustrator, Laura Cornell. Perhaps this story is not as strong as their books of the past, but it is still on point and a contemporary issue is addressed. The rhyming text was at first a bit off putting, yet, it was perfect for the story. It makes a serious story more accessible and gives a better understanding of the […]



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