Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Wish You Were Here

The Balloon Hunter by Hugh Howey and Elinor Taylor

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cbr17bingo – review (from TikTok) I think this might be the most unique book I’ve ever read. It’s a short novel told exclusively through postcards (that seem to be actually hand-written). The two characters are Rita, who writes the postcards and sends them out attached to balloons, and Clayton, who finds them and writes on the backs as a sort of journal. We learn from these postcards that there was an apocalypse of some sort, and Rita’s postcards bring Clayton hope. He sets off to find […]

Returning to a series years later because of Rebecca Ferguson. No, not that one.

Shift by Hugh Howey

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I read Wool, the first book in the Silo trilogy, before the pandemic about 5 billion years ago in 2019. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though I did not know it was a series when I started it. After spending so much time reading series like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, etc. I really was trying to read more standalone single stories, and after hearing some short reviews of the second novel not being as good as the first, I did not […]

Does 2 Out of 3 Count if the Third Book is the Worst?

Wool, Silo Series, Book One by Hugh Howey

Shift, Silo Series, Book Two by Hugh Howey

Dust, Silo Series, Book Three by Hugh Howey

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I picked up the box set of Silo during Amazon’s fantastic book series sale in December. I had watched the first season of the Apple TV+ show and was curious about the books. I had read a review that Hugh Howey had disappointed with the ending, but I was willing to give it a try. BOOK I – WOOL The trilogy begins with a character fans of the show will be familiar with – Sheriff Holston. His wife had volunteered to clean a few years […]

“It turned out that some crooked things looked even worse when straightened. Some tangled knots only made sense once unraveled.”

Wool by Hugh Howey

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I know it’s only January 20th so this is a bold claim, but Wool is going to be on my top 10 list of books I read in 2024. This novel started as a standalone short story “Holston,” but upon its publication and soaring popularity, Howey wrote four more stories that have now been bound together in this first volume. And it gripped me from page one through the very end. This is exactly the kind of book that I love to read in winter, […]

Bit Different From the Show

Wool by Hugh Howey

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Best for: Those who like their science fiction without a ton of world-building In a nutshell: The Silo is a 130+ story underground bunker, housing 10,000 people. Juliette is a mechanic there who ends up discovering more about this world than she is meant to. Worth quoting: (Nothing jumped out at me.) Why I chose it: I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Silo, which is roughly based on the first third or so of this book. What it left me feeling: Intrigued. Review: I […]

Unnecessary back story

Shift by Hugh Howey

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Bingo Square: Politics (senators, congressman, terrible people bringing about the end of the world) In 2049, congressman Donald Keene is recruited by Senator Paul Thurman to help build a containment system for a new nuclear waste facility. Donald has known Thurman for years, dating his daughter Anna in college. She will be on the team too, along with Donald’s friend Mick. The Democratic National Convention takes place at the site, just as nuclear bombs are detonated over the US. Those present file into the silos […]



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