Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

People swallow lies easily provided they are big enough

Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

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CBR12 BINGO: Yellow I’ve been in the mood to revisit Watchmen since I saw the extraordinary HBO series earlier this year (best television in recent memory, btw). Then references to the comic book series popped up in Eleanor & Park, and it gave me an extra push to reread the graphic novel that I first encountered when I was in college. Plus. . . .can’t get more yellow than that cover, can you? I wanted to see whether this classic holds up after 34 years, […]

A marvelous extension of an already incredible, established universe

Avatar The Last Airbender: The Promise by Gene Luen Yang

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I am very lucky that I have adult friends who are nerds in the same way that I am. A friend of mine recently let me borrow all 5 complete collections of the Avatar graphic novels. This review is of the first one. Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise picks immediately following the events of the three seasons of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar Aang and newly crowned Fire Lord Zuko must find away to heal the world of the damage that […]

Time to catch up on some history I never learned

Nat Turner by Kyle Baker

The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks and Canaan White

Muhammad Ali by Sybille Titeux and Amazing Ameziane

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cbr12bingo Pandemic If you want to catch up a bit on the history you weren’t taught in school, these three graphic novels are a great way to do so. Nat Turner gives detail and perspective on the 1831 slave rebellion that was probably mentioned in a textbook but only covered in passing. The Harlem Hellfighters reveals not only the bravery and heroism of the all-Black 369th regiment fighting in WWI Europe, but also the racism and violence they faced from their fellow Americans. Muhammad Ali […]

When Jason Mantzoukas says he’s obsessed with a book, you better believe I’m going to read it.

All You Need is Kill by Yoshitoshi Abe, Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Takeshi Obata

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki, Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

The Case of the Missing Men by Kris Bertin, Alexander Forbes

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I’m a big fan of the graphic novel. I will fight anyone who doesn’t think spending time with a graphic novel counts as reading — for any reading level from elementary to adult. It counts. Since we started self-distancing, I’ve read three amazing — and so, so, so very different — graphic novels. The first, All You Need is Kill, is probably the most famous of the bunch. The inspiration for the Tom Cruise/Emily Blunt movie, Edge of Tomorrow (great movie, terrible title), AYNIK tells […]

A Unlikable Bibliophile is Actually Possible; I have proof

Ascendance of a Bookworm (Part 1 Vol 1) by Miya Kazuki

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I sat on this review a while because I didn’t want to hit cannonball with something I had significant issues with. I have one big issue with Ascendance of a Bookworm (Part 1 Vol 1) and it’s the heroine. The premise is pretty straightforward: Urano is obsessed with books (both as objects and for reading) and she’s about to graduate college and start a job in a library as is her dream. She dies in a book avalanche, and suddenly wakes up in the body […]

On the outside looking in

Almost American Girl: An Illustrated Memoir by Robin Ha

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This wonderful illustrated memoir is Robin Ha’s story of moving from Seoul, South Korea, for  the US as a teenager in 1995 and trying to make a new life here with her mother. It is a deeply moving story of a young girl, only 14, being suddenly uprooted from her friends and community, and having to learn a new language, adapt to a new family, and figure out a new culture in Alabama. Thanks to her art, Robin (formerly Chuna) finds a way to bring […]



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