Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“May your Paths be safe, your Floors unbroken and may the House fill your eyes with Beauty.”

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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In one word: Strange Y’all. I am straight-up mad at Susanna Clarke. HOW DARE SHE BE SO TALENTED AND CLEVER. I was delighted and amazed by her hefty debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and picked this one up on the recommendation of many people. It’s a slim and unassuming-looking book but she packs more creativity and strangeness into it than should be possible in so few pages. It might be the weirdest book I’ve ever read, giving Danielewski’s “House of Leaves” some stiff […]

Literary Hub Made Me Do It

Hôtel Splendid by Marie Redonnet

Rose Mellie Rose by Marie Redonnet

Forever Valley by Marie Redonnet

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It is VERY hard for me to turn away from a listicle. I love a list; from making them myself to seeking them out, lists give me order AND fun- the best of both worlds! The fine folks over at Literary Hub are keen on list-making, and having enjoyed things they have recommended before (hello, The Lover!) I was pleased as punch to track down this loose “trilogy” from Marie Redonnet after spotting it in a list of short reads. I, and Redonnet (and translator […]

the frogman cometh

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls

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You know how sometimes, when you are doing housework to distract yourself from your crumbling marriage, a 6’11” Frogman named Larry escapes from a scientific institute and comes to your house for good food and better sex? No? Well, I suppose it isn’t an every day situation for all, but it’s certainly Dorothy’s new normal! “but Cait, isn’t this just The Shape of Water?” NOPE! It predates TSOW, having been first published in 1982, and not all aquatic lovers are created equally! While it is impossible to […]

There is beauty to be found in the melting snow and McDonalds wrappers

Little Foxes Took Up Matches by Katya Kazbek

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Mitya is not good at math, as you can see. But he’s good at imagination. Mitya is utterly convinced that no one has ever looked at two halves long enough, or attentively enough. Mitya has some stories for you. Much like Mitya himself, this novel contains multitudes. Katya Kazbek, who often works as a translator, holds the door open for the curious reader with snippets of fairy tales. Sometimes these tales are her takes on mythology, and sometimes they are the mythology of being a […]

The way these characters can understand what isn’t being said, while being delightfully snarky is just the best.

And They Lived Happily Ever After by Therese Beharrie

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Representation on the page matters, and while finding representation that feels exactly like you can be some of the most affirming experiences out there, finding representation that speaks to a component of your life that isn’t exactly how you experience it is also incredibly important. Beharrie includes in her acknowledgements that a lot of what we see on the page in And They Lived Happily Ever After draws from her own experiences with Anxiety, and as usual, when an author so very obviously writes from […]

“If You’re Not Happy, Maybe Ask Yourself If It’s Worth It”

Sacred Heart by Liz Suburbia

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Spoilers below: I’ve reread this book a few times over the seven years since it came out (I actually think I read her other work before this was published, so I was familiar with her style beforehand). It’s the kind of book where you enjoy it and it raises more questions than it answers. The ending reveals a little of what’s been going on, but way more is left up to your imagination. In the hands of another author, this might grate or feel cheap, […]



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