Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“No point in thinking, you just have to get on with life. We only have one after all, we should try and do our best. We can never get it right, but we must try.”

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

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I will admit that I have been avoiding this book since it was published, but especially after I read a Sherlock fanfic one time* that was a riff on Life After Life, and which is one of the most emotionally traumatizing fics I’ve ever read, so by association I was pre-traumatized by this book. Also, one time I read the first Jackson Brodie mystery and I thought it was boring, so I thought this would be boring too. Happily, wrong on all fronts! *If you […]

“Human nature could be so hideous, but it persisted in this ugliness by insisting it was good.”

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

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Look at me, reviewing a book I just finished yesterday*. I am determined to review all my October books in a timely fashion** so as not to make my backlog problem worse than it already is. (Sigh.) This was sort of a bummer one to start my October spooky reads on because it was all serious and stuff, no fun at all to be had here. But I can’t deny it was very well done. *But posted here in December, whoops. I finished this in […]

I still can’t believe how much I disliked this book.

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

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This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, so naturally I chose it for one of my book clubs, because I like pushing books on willing victims. Joke was on me! We all hated it, every single one of us. What was this???? How could such a good premise biff it so hard? First of all, this is NOT a heist book. We spend approximately 5% of the book with the characters doing crime, and that is probably generous. There is also […]

“She looked down at her palms and understood – her being was implied, her potential thoughts and feelings coursing through her body, the names of everything she knew and those she didn’t yet, all in the perpetual existence in her fingertips.”

True Biz by Sara Nović

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This was a really interesting read, but the ending left me unsatisfied. This is probably a book that a majority of the US population could stand to read for the topic alone, but for me, the story arc left just a little to be desired. I don’t necessarily need a happy ending, but I do need that feeling of completion you get with a well-told story, and I was missing that here, even if the book leading up to the ending was very well done […]

“What is a game?” Marx said. “It’s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It’s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.”

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

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If this doesn’t make my top ten books of the year, I’ll eat something inedible. My cat does it all the time, how hard can it be? This book sucked my entire being into it while I was reading it, and I was a brainless husk just turning pages while my brain was flopping around in there having a grand old time. Sorry if that sounds gross but that’s what happened! I can’t change the facts! This is a book about friendship, love, and video […]

I don’t want to review this, f*** you.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2 Book 28/30 It’s too good! I loved it too much! This is like how I put off watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier because I love Bucky too much. My feelings, THEY CANNOT BE CONTAINED WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CONTAIN THEM. I was going to try and re-read this before I reviewed it to try and make some thoughts more thoughtful and coherent, but I just don’t have the time right now, even though […]



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