Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Thin Line Between Fantasy and Reality

Mary and the Birth of Frankstein by Anne Eekhout

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The year is 1812, and fourteen-year-old Mary Goodwin is living in pastoral Dundee, where she may find love but may find danger as well. The year is 1816, and eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley is living in rainy Geneva, where she may conceive of something that is strange and fearful and all hers, if she will allow herself to do it. I have still not read Frankenstein. (I keep meaning to! There’s just so many books to read!) But I am familiar with its plot, and the […]

How To Be A Groovy Witch

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

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In which we learn why bookmobiles are an essential part of any community and a spell to ensure that our appliances always run smoothly and reliably. It is the summer of 1970 and Fern, Rose, Zinnia, and Holly are currently trapped at the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida. Pregnant girls are sent here by their families to secretly have their babies and give them right up for adoption before forgetting that any of this ever happened. They are in control of nothing about their […]

“fear is an anchor, but it’s also a bridge”

The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth

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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. I’m going to keep reading this author’s books as long as I like the premises, because she is improving as a writer as she goes. There are still things in here that ultimately meant I couldn’t bump this up to four stars (dear lord, the sex scene*) because this simply just isn’t as good as books that I have rated four stars in the past. But her ideas […]

‘Who wants us, outside? The world is full of terrible people’: A castle can be a home, a fortress, a prison

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

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Since I finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle — my second Shirley Jackson thanks to JenX’s recommendation — I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the things that are not said. We go through so much of life living in our own heads while interacting with others who carry their own histories and lives and have their own shit happening. As important as it is to hear what is said to us, just as important is the ability to see the meaning behind […]

Two Writers

We Are Watching by Alison Gaylin

Saint of the Narrows Street by William Boyle

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I finished two books this past week and enjoyed them to varying degrees. One was by a favorite author, another by an author I’ve struggled with in the past. Let’s get to the latter first since I like going in reading order… We Are Watching**** I’ve always felt cold toward Alison Gaylin’s work. She’s a very good writer and yet, there’s an emotional distance in her books that I can’t land with. It’s the same issue I get when watching most Christopher Nolan movies: yeah […]

Indigenous family demons

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth

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White Horse intrigued me with its mysterious cover. It follows Kari, an indigenous woman living in Colorado who is haunted by her past. Or rather her lack of a past because her mother disappeared shortly after she was born. Her dad was stricken by grief and ended up in a car accident. Kari spent much of her life resenting her mom and being a caretaker. After some struggles with drugs, she has gotten her life together.  She hangs with her best friend and cousin Debby, […]



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