Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I wanted more about the assassins, less about contemporary American politics

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

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CBR12 BINGO: Pandemic (read whatever you want) BINGO: Gateway, Orange, Nostalgia, Pandemic, Shelfie When I opened this book, I had in my mind that it would be an easy 4-star review. Sarah Vowell is an entertaining writer, a passionate historian, and an American patriot, so I was excited to read this historical travel journal that has been on my TBR list for years. To sweeten the deal, it also promised glimpses into presidential assassins Charles Guiteau and Leon Czolgosz, who assassinated Presidents Garfield and McKinely, respectively, and […]

Not a damn turtle in sight

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

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CBR12 BINGO: Orange I keep trying to like young adult fiction, to the point where it might be unfair of me to review the genre, since it’s clearly not my thing. There are exceptions, of course (my recent discovery of Eleanor & Park stands out), but generally all I can expect from YA is a solid character to whom teenagers can relate. Turtles All the Way Down scores in its representation of a teenage girl with severe anxiety and OCD, but the rest of it just […]

“They were the minorities of this world whose only recourse was to join this universal orchestra, in which all there was to do was cry and wail.”

An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma

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CBR12 BINGO: UnCannon BINGO: UnCannon, Nostalgia, Yellow, Happy, Repeat The description for the “UnCannon” category in CBR12 Bingo advises the reader to “Challenge yourself as much as you are able.” So while I could have picked up any book by a female author (of which there are many on my TBR list) to satisfy this category, I chose to read something by 34-year-old Nigerian author Chigozie Obioma. My husband read An Orchestra of Minorities last year and raved about it, so I decided now would […]

Look no further: Perfect Christmas gift for all the foodies on your list

The New Homemade Kitchen by Joseph Shuldiner

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CBR12 BINGO: Happy Full disclosure: My husband tested recipes for this cookbook and we are both listed under the acknowledgments as recipe testers. Some years ago, my husband attended a beer crafting class that was offered by The Institute of Domestic Technology and held at the historic Zane Grey Estate in Altadena, California. When he came home and told me that not only did he have a great time, but that there were goats on the estate, I said, “Sign me up for the next […]

Where there are women, there are witches

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

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CBR12 BINGO: Repeat This is a repeat of the Book Club category, as my social distancing book club meets again in September. For this meeting of my book club, we decided to go a little heavier and read this historical fiction about the Salem witch trials. Author Kathleen Kent has a vested interest in the topic, as she is a tenth-generation descendant of Martha Carrier, one of the first women accused and tried as a witch in Salem in 1692. The Heretic’s Daughter looks a […]

A satisfying heroine; not Sherlock Holmes

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

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CBR12 BINGO: Red A Study in Scarlet Women has been on my radar since last year’s “Classics and Retellings” book club, when a number of Cannonballers reviewed it as an adaptation/retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous work. I was excited that CBR12 BINGO gave me an excuse to pick it up from my library. My enthusiasm arc for this novel can be visualized as a bell curve: I went from “hmm, ok but. . .,” to “wow, this is great!” back down to “mildly positive” […]



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