Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Steel Magnolias but with a Vampire

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

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Strong southern women are no joke. But neither is the patriarchy and racism. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix will give you goosebumps and make you angry at racial injustice and stupid white men at the same time. Set in the 90s in South Caroline, each chapter title is a reference to a movie or true crime book from the last 50 years, so you will definitely come out of this book with some ideas for what to read or […]

The Southern Bok Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires

The Southern Bok Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

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Trigger warning: Rape and lynching    When a book won’t stop turning over and over in my brain it’s a great book to me. When I finished this last night I went and re-read some of my favorite parts. Thought again about some of the characters and the things that they went through. I had a lot of emotions while reading this one, frustration, irritation, sympathy, then disgust, and then anger. This book takes you through it paces. It has a lot of gore in […]

I’d Rather Juggle Chainsaws

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

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The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix is an unsatisfying book with a surprisingly decent ending. I picked it up as Good Reads listed it as readers’ favorite horror novel of 2021. I don’t read a ton of horror, though I am a Stephen King devotee. But this book did not work for me. The Final Girl is a trope that refers to a final girl survivor who squares off with the killer at the end of a horror film. Think Jamie Lee Curtis […]

Playing Catchup

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Night Train by David Quantick

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

Imposter Syndrome by Kathy Wang

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Listen, sometimes you graduate from college, panic about your future, land a job, and move to a new city and even though you’re reading a couple books a month you forget about the whole reviewing part. I’ve still got 6 more reviews to write from May-September reads, but here are a few from May and October. (I wrote half of the May ones in May so they might be a little outdated. A group of housewives in a suburb of Charleston, SC in the 90s […]

“You ladies read a strange assortment of books,” James Harris said. “We’re a strange assortment of broads,” Kitty replied.”

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

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In one word: Disappointing Cannonball Read Bingo: Libations Alright y’all. I am here with a story of heartbreak. I absolutely ADORED Grady Hendrix’s 2016 “My Best Friend’s Exorcism.” I judged it by its cover immediately as it was styled to look like an old VHS tape, so I was sold from jump. Set in the 80s, it was a seamless blend of horror, humor, and coming of age, a book that I fell into completely and had on my best of the year list. I […]

Still Not Sure How to Feel About This One

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

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Bingo category: Rec’d (by Mobius Walker) The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires isn’t exactly what I thought it was, based on the title. I was picturing a silly piece of fluff, full of ridiculous Southern sayings, mint juleps, genteel, condescending white women in Lilly Pulitzer dabbing their foreheads with handkerchiefs and gossiping in between killing vampires. A sort of vampire cozy. To Grady Hendrix’s credit, he wrote something much more substantial than that. It’s completely bizarre and definitely has some issues, but it […]



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