Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A lot of characters to follow, three plots, and wondering if or when it will all make sense

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

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It took me way longer to really get into A Desolation Called Peace than it did A Memory Called Empire. Part of the problem in A Desolation Called Peace is that there are too many different groups and places that take almost ¾ of the novel to really come together. I get that that is a technique for suspense, but it doesn’t work terribly well here, especially when Mahit’s thread has so little to do with everything else which actually does eventually connect. It feels […]

When you only read a handful of pages, but still like what you read, but it’s okay as it is a book to read like that.

You Can Do Anything, Magic Skeleton!: Monster Motivations to Move Your Butt and Get You to Do the Thing by Chuck Wendig

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I was on the salesfloor this morning, doing a task that I occasionally do, surrounded by the books of the counter. You know those fun little distractions at the checkout. The ones that you pick up for hostess gifts, for that one person you never can buy for, and that “I need a treat and it might be Champlain Chocolate [so yummy], but my waist will thank me for a book instead” books. After finishing my task, instead of taking my normal route back to […]

Nursery Rhymes and Shakin’ your Groove thang!

Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Say Good Night by Tiger Tales

Babies Around the World: Dancing by Tamara Barker

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A few months ago, a friend had her third Munchkin. I have known Mama Munchkin since the day before she turned two. And in that time, there were several tea sets, playing dolls and superheroes, a talk-the-babysitter (me)-into-getting-in-the-canoe-and-actually-go-down-the-stream with (then just) Munchkin, her brothers, and a cousin, birthday parties, and of course books, that we shared. Therefore, it was natural for me to give books as a baby gift. One of the books I found for Munchkin the Third was Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Say Good Night. […]

“There is a pay phone by a truck stop near the town of Leonard, Arizona. Sometimes at night it starts to ring.”

Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

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I was first drawn into Emily St. John Mandel’s world back in 2015, when Station Eleven caught my eye after popping up in a few “best of” lists.  It became an immediate favorite, and I know that love is shared here within our CBR community! I’ve read it twice since first picking it up, most recently in March, right as the world started to dip further and further into pandemic horror. I wrote in a previous review that I would not have picked up The Glass Hotel […]

Just too darn cute! Read it!

The Word for Friend by Aidan Cassie

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Just too darn cute! Read it! Okay, I need to write more. But The Word for Friend is really just too darn cute. Aidan Cassie created a story where language barriers does not mean friendship barriers. Kemala the pangolin is excited for her new city, home and school. She is a happy, talkative little girl (pangolin) and it is not until she gets to school that things change. She does not know anyone. And more importantly, nobody speaks her language. How is she going to […]

She “needs pictures on her face.”

Cursed by Karol Ruth Silverstein

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I am going to use for my cbr12bingo Reader’s Choice option for Nostalgia. And really this book could have been set when I was a teen (even if there are cell phones in this book). The tone of the story has that feeling of freedom most parents gave kids “back then.” That free-range parenting. The fact the parents are divorced has that feeling of  this is a new thing and “just coming to light” in a more open and less “((whisper)) So and So just got […]



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