Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Dude, where is my lightning bolt?

Percy Jackson and the Olympians the Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel by Robert Venditti

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The graphic novel adaptations of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians the Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel seems to rely on you having read the full novels. In fact, most of the graphic novel adaptations feel this way. However, you can still follow the action, but sometimes things fell assumed or feel missing. They are good books, but not great in my opinion. I will still read him, as I like the comfort of the reading level and the story itself, but I will […]

snapshot of a sculpture

Galatea by Madeline Miller

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We’ve heard his story countless times; it’s been a well-trod myth since Ancient Greece. We read Metamorphoses, we studied Pygmalion, we sung along to My Fair Lady, and we mourned the short life of (the terribly named but very good) Selfie. With Madeline Miller, Pygmalion strikes again. He strikes the marble into a statue, the statue becomes a woman, Galatea strikes out on her own, and Pygmalion strikes her down. Galatea is convalescing (read: held captive) in a hospital by the sea. She is cut off from her daughter, […]

I wish Stephen Fry was my BFF

Heroes: Mortals and Monsters , Quests and Adventures by Stephen Fry

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Mythos was always going to be a tough act to follow. Not just because it was great, but because I also had the pleasure of reading it from a sunlounger on a Greek island as opposed to from a sofa in dark and rainy Devon. But Stephen Fry is fabulous and naturally pulled it off while making it look easy. While Mythos looked at the creation and then shenanigans of the gods, Heroes is more down to earth – while the gods are still meddling, […]

Hopefully It’s Almost Over

The Tyrant's Tomb (Trials of Apollo 4) by Rick Riordan

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Start with a zombie attack while transporting a fallen comrade home, using tattoos to decipher bits of prophecy, metal greyhounds (robot dogs seem a little out of place but it does kind of work), a bookstore cat, trying to figure out how to counter a massive attack/invasion on Camp Jupiter, and facing off against formerly dead (?) emperor of Rome (the nastier ones), and conclude with some of Lester’s godliness starting to come back in time for what hopefully is the final face off against […]

I am putty in Madeline Miller’s hands

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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I used to love Greek and Roman mythology as a kid, but Achilles and the Battle of Troy never interested me much. Too much gore and to be honest Achilles seems like a real douche. But Madeline Miller’s Circe was one of my favourite reads of 2019, so I figured that if any version of his story was ever going to be compelling, it was her debut novel, The Song of Achilles. The book is narrated by Patroclus, who as a boy is exiled by […]

Reclaiming the Persephone Myth

At The Touch of Death by Gina Carra

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A request went out to any Cannonballers who would be interested in a newly published lesbian/LGBTQ romance in exchange for an honest review. I volunteered. At the Touch of Death retells the Abduction of Persephone myth, making it a love story in which Hades and Persephone are both taken hostage by love, but get their happily ever after when Persephone reclaims her agency and fights for a relationship with Hades. In Greek mythology, Hades, the God of the Underworld sees Persephone, the Goddess of Fertility and […]



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