Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I suspect if I had owned a border collie, this story would have a very different ending, and I probably would not have been around to type it up. But I had Bongo, and he saved our lives because he is simple and made of nose.”

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

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Gotta write this review today because I’m about to start The Hollow Places, and I don’t want my brain to get to confused about it. This book was ooky spooky and I enjoyed it very much. The atmosphere was A+ for me, the MC alone in her evil grandmother’s hoarder house (the book is clear that her being a hoarder is in no way related to her being evil, but the doll room is def related) and a THING in the woods. The THING omg it […]

“There is nothing wrong with being a monster.”

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

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?????? It’s been weeks now and I still don’t know what to make of this one. A very dark and weird take on The Little Mermaid story, with a cheeky little nod to Hans Christian Andersen even; mostly this was an exercise in imagery and I didn’t connect to the characters, but I can’t deny it has style. The mermaid here was essentially stolen from the sea, forced to marry a prince, had her tongue cut out, and then gave birth to daughters who then […]

An unsettling tale of true friendship and demons, literal and metaphorical.

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

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I don’t know exactly why I’m having such a hard time writing a review for this book. It’s pretty straightforward! (if weird). Best friends in the 1980s (get ready for some Reagan-era skewering) persevere through the power of friendship over evil. Plus lots of 80s nostalgia (including some contemporary language usage that was definitely common then but isn’t accepted now, so be warned if that might bother you). The thing about Grady Hendrix is that he knows how to write characters who are realistic and […]

Hi, it’s me, the worst book of the year.

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

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I’m not mad just disappointed. Just kidding, I’m pretty mad. I’m going to say what many reviewers have said before me: This is not a book about a man who is swallowed by a whale and has to use science to get out alive. This is a book about a man (a teenager, actually, but more on that below) who has daddy issues real bad, and he happens to be swallowed by a whale also. The parts with the whale are few and far between—it […]

“Just when you think you’ve seen the worst human beings have to offer, you find out you’re wrong.”

Holly (Holly Gibney, #3) by Stephen King

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This was bit of a messy book that I ultimately enjoyed very much. King takes a lot of smaller pieces (racism, homophobia, cannibalism, the fear of aging, COVID, poetry and writing and the meaning of art) and smushes them together in this little book following Holly Gibney, a character some people love and some people (inexplicably) hate. I happen to love her. I thought this was a great showcase for Holly, even if it wasn’t perfect, and there were small moments I might have tweaked […]

“Home is a choice and sometimes a hard one. What you choose to accept. What you embrace.”

Lute by Jennifer Marie Thorne

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Nina Treadway is the lady of Lute, but she’s only lived there for seven years, since she got married to Hugh. As a foreigner, she doesn’t believe in the island’s day of the tithe, but as things start going wrong all around her, she wonders if it might be more than a superstition. Folk horror! A mysterious day of human sacrifice as an island extracts the price of its bounty from its residents! An American abroad! And that cover is so very beautiful, and so […]



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