Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“A queen offers her hand to be kissed; can form it into a fist while smiling the whole damn time.”

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

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One of the unexpected benefits of parenting my stepson is the introduction to books I wouldn’t know anything about. He’s a reluctant (but consistent) reader and I adore reading along with what he has for school, especially know that he’s at a high school level. Do we talk about the books? Absolutely not. But maybe someday he’ll take me up on the offer. (Fingers crossed). This was the summer reading book for sophomore honor’s English and neither of us started eagerly. I don’t read a […]

Yeah, definitely going to need a 2nd read

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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CBR16 BINGO: Part 2, for the second book in the Locked Tomb series I look back fondly on the days when, in my innocence, I thought Gideon the Ninth was a complicated novel. I read that book twice, thank goodness, because if I hadn’t, I would have either been even more confused by Harrow the Ninth, or I’d have shrugged off details that didn’t make sense thinking I was simply misremembering them. After finishing Harrow the Ninth, I am spent. I’m as weak and cowed […]

The second read is even better. Like, a lot better for a book I already enjoyed once.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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CBR16 BINGO: Part 1, for the first book in the Locked Tomb series I first read Gideon the Ninth several years ago and, while it took me a little while to get into it, I ended up really enjoying it, giving it 4 stars on Goodreads. I’ve been wanting to read Harrow the Ninth, and when it finally became available through my library, I decided to reread Gideon to refresh my memory and prep my brain. Thank goodness I decided to reread Gideon, because, first of […]

Codependant Hacker in Search of a Cause

The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie

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After a job gone wrong, Murdock and her gang of con artists are tithed to a sentient warship that’s styled itself into a punitive god. Escaping the ship would be hard enough – but when the Justice takes a personal interest in Murdock, the stakes only get higher. I have been slowing dipping my toes into the space opera genre, mostly via the wonderful Becky Chambers, but I am always on the lookout for more. And the premise of this book immediately sold me – […]

The Dark Corners of the Past

Great Scandals of the Victorians by Debbie Blake

Public Faces, Secret Lives by Wendy L. Rouse

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Great Scandals of the Victorians: Disreputable Stories from the Royal Court to the Stage – 3.5 stars For all that Victorians had a reputation for being straitlaced, they had their fair share of scandals – and some of them ended up having major effects on contemporary society, sometimes even driving forth social changes which still affect us today. I love a good gossip session about people I’ve never met, which is why history is one of my favorite subjects. In this book, we learn about […]

Magic and Anxiety

Secret Passages 1985-1986 by Axelle Lenoir

The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor

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Secret Passages 1985-1986 by Axelle Lenoir – 3 stars In an effort to untangle her complicated feelings about the loss of her cosmic twin, author Axelle decides to unspool her life in an off-kilter autobiographical comic. This is a surreal and funny graphic novel which depicts a year in young Axelle’s life as she starts going to school, forms a strange connection with the forest by her home, and begins to suffer in the grip of acute anxiety. The art is both atmospheric and humorous, […]



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