Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A flawed but engaging read that has taken me about 13 years to read.

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

by Leave a Comment

I’m not sure when I first became aware of this book, but I bought it over a decade ago, before I met my wife. Before I had much of a life to speak of. Recently separated and having lost a fairly good job in the midst of what felt like a pretty terrible economic meltdown, I was going through my own little existential crisis. Working two jobs that weren’t really sufficient, I was struggling to find myself – to find meaning and purpose, a sense […]

Maladaptive Daydreaming

Bunny by Mona Awad

by Leave a Comment

No matter how Samantha loathes the cliche of girls who make up the rest of her writing group, with their overwrought work and their insistence on referring to each other as ‘Bunny,’ she can’t help but get sucked into their strange world when they invite her to join them. This is a dark and satirical read which pokes plenty of fun at the pretentious streak that can run deep in the people who attend MFA programs – considering the author was one of them, the […]

Catching Up On Some Reviews

Still Life by Louise Penny

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

by Leave a Comment

Still Life by Louise Penny Back when I was hoping to complete a Cannonball Bingo, Still Life was my choice for the North America square. The first novel in Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache mystery series, it’s set in the little town of Three Pines in Canada and follows the search for the murderer of 76-year-old Jane Neal. I don’t often read mysteries, so I was surprised at how Penny approached the mystery. We spend a lot of time with other characters in the town […]

“their houses would have wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors so that Esteban’s memory could go everywhere without bumping into beams”

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa (Translator)

by Leave a Comment

I have been circling Gabriel García Márquez for decades, almost too afraid to approach his work at all. On and off the reading lists his works go, a constant pendulum of my ambition or lack thereof. When staring at our Bingo squares and realizing a few short stories and novellas were likely to help my progress I went on the hunt for a few and The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel García Márquez came up. Here we go, I thought – here’s […]

I expected too much

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

by Leave a Comment

CBR15 BINGO: On the Road, because the fig tree at the center of this story travels from Cyprus to London; also, main character Ada is on the path to understanding her family’s history, and Ada’s parents are immigrants from Cyprus BINGO: Hold Steady, On the Road, North America, Guide, Nostalgia I need to stop reading Goodreads reviews that gush over a novel, because they only set me up for disappointment. I wanted to like this novel so much more than I did, because there are […]

“Always be quiet when a heart is breaking.”

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

by Leave a Comment

CBR Bingo – Relation(ship) I was looking for a book to dive into whole to lift my spirits post-layoff and a friend recommended this, saying she “recommends it for anyone who loves books and needs a warm hug.” In my opinion, she nailed the recommendation for my situation. This book is just sweet enough, but also just dark enough, to appeal to a troubled mind looking for distraction. Any book lover will be delighted to dive into this world. Jack Masterson, Willy Wonka-esque children’s author, […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo