Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

To The Victors Go

Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace

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What often grates me about David Peace’s endless style of repetition works here. Whereas his Red Riding Quartet was full of a bunch of self-loathing white policemen and journalists who couldn’t deal in a world their fathers had built, Tokyo Year Zero has a more compelling lead detective: a man who may or may not have committed a war crime in China now operating as a police officer in the first year of Allied occupation in Tokyo. His nation has lost and must now deal with […]

Samurai: A big deal in Japanese society for 700 years

Magical History Tour Volume 12: The Samurai by Fabrice Erre

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I have written about the Magical History Tour series before, but I still love talking about them, even though I have told you just read them! No questions asked (and you my good friends have, I am sure)! And my ultimatum is probably because I am that way. I just read them regardless of subject. Fabrice Erre’s series of historical events and people have ranged from Vikings to oil to Albert Einstein.  And I am not really interested in the world of oil, Vikings, or […]

The darkness inside

Deserter: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito

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CBR15Passport book set in and author from another country Reading Deserter: Junji Ito Story Collection near bedtime is not recommended. Now, it is not so much because the stories are “scary-scary” but because they are warped! Each story is not very long but packed with stuff (and you probably realize I am not saying “stuff”).  Yes, things can be creepy, gross (after all, it is horror and somehow the black and white images are almost too realistic in their illustrated manner. I was getting old-black-and-white-1950-thriller/science […]

It smells like teen spirit

Bounce Back by Misako Rocks!

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I picked up Bounce Back by Misako Rocks! several weeks ago, while I was in the vehicle waiting for someone to leave the grocery store. I did not get very far, so when I picked it up again a few days ago, I skimmed to remind myself what was going on. I realized I had missed pages and a couple plot points. So, not off to a good start for this cute book with diversity and contemporary themes. But I got into the swing of […]

Blind Date with a Book

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

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Last spring I read about something called “Blind Date With a Book” that sounded like fun. Libraries apparently do them, and it involves choosing a book, wrapped in paper so you cannot see the title, based on some descriptive words (mystery, romance, other voices, etc). It’s a fun way to change up your reading and maybe try something you wouldn’t have picked for yourself. Over on Etsy, a number of sellers offer this same service for a range of fees and I decided to give […]

“You can’t protect what’s precious to you through violence” … unless there’s a bargain sale involved

The Way of the Househusband vol. 1 by Kousuke Oono

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CBR14Bingo – Funky: I can’t think of much funkier than a former yakuza gangster applying the same energy to bargain hunting as offing people. And, it’s my first BINGO! I’d heard wonderful things about this manga, so when I saw it was finally available at my library, well, I jumped on it. It’s a hilarious collection of loosely connected slice-of-life stories from a yakuza who’s traded turf battles for bargain sales. Tatsu has retired from being the infamous “Immortal Dragon” of the yakuza underworld to become […]



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