Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

cbr12bingo – No Money!

Bright and Dangerous Objects by Anneliese Mackintosh

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Full disclosure: I received this ARC from the Tin House Galley Club The atmosphere here in Bright and Dangerous Objects is heavy. It’s laden down with creeping grief, sudden disappointment and the growing dread of continuing to exist while things crash apart around you. Sensitive tattoo-artist boyfriends, fancy craft beer,  and getaways in stone cottages cannot save you from yourself. Solvig has inherited her mother’s furious brain. She has inherited her father’s tend towards self destruction. She has inherited a hunk of malachite that is supposed to […]

cbr12bingo – Orange

Sing to It by Amy Hempel

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“A woman of her word can do what she signed on to do.” If you need a quick but cathartic sob, this is the book for you. Clocking in at under 150 pages, Sing To It  houses a tiny and brutal collection of stories- some so tiny that they are just a few sentences long. Do not let the brevity fool you; even the most micro of the micro-fiction within will burn you. Several stories are still playing in my head days later. “Full-Service Shelter” is […]

“There’s a particular feeling in your body when something goes right after a long time of things going wrong. It feels warm and sweet and loose.”

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

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Lily King is a magician. She takes an unassuming title like Writers and Lovers and crafts something beautiful, messy, and utterly captivating. Her last novel, 2014’s Euphoria, was my favorite read of the last decade- I have to admit that I was initially disappointed when Writers and Lovers was announced after the evocative fever of Euphoria.  A 30-something woman navigates creative struggle, debt, grief, and relationships? All I have to do is shout out of my front door and a line of people that fit the description […]

It’s a sad and beautiful world

No Happy Endings by Nora McInerney

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In this book the author specifically mentions that she internalizes bad reviews and remembers one specific amazon reviewer giving her book three stars but gave an ice scraper five. I hope she won’t take my four stars as an insult, they’re certainly not intended as one. I’ve had It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Okay Too), McInerney’s book about losing her husband, her father, and her pregnancy all in the same year, in my Amazon cart for approximately ever, so of course I’d read the […]

Nonetheless, I still want to be a lighthouse keeper

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

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I read Ahab’s Wife at an impressionable age and it filled me with a deep hatred of whales (unfair to them, I know) and a fierce desire to be a lighthouse keeper. Despite many things keeping me from a serious pursuit of such an endeavor (I keep moving further and further away from the ocean, the aforementioned hatred of whales, my reliance on the internet…) I will always jump at the chance to read something lighthouse adjacent. The Light Between Oceans starts off strong- a quiet and […]

The other side of the camera

Black Movie by Danez Smith

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All I really can say is that, Black Movie by Danez Smith is not an easy read. Which really is an understatement. It needs to be read slowly and without distractions. And a reread could be helpful. This book, no matter how much you like poetry, will not be for everyone. You might empathize but you probably will not be able to relate to many subjects presented. Again; this is not an easy read. The format of the poems can be awkward. There is literally […]



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