Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

From Canada to Hong Kong, with Love

Uprooted by Ruth Chan

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Ruth has only known life in Canada. But when her Chinese-born father has a job opportunity in Hong Kong, he and his wife excitedly make plans to move back to their home country, uprooting Ruth from the only life she has known. Her older brother is a boarding school student and gets to stay behind, so Ruth, their pets, and her parents set off to start over. At least, it’s starting over for Ruth. She speaks a little Cantonese, as her parents insist on using […]

“All my life I’ve wanted to see London. I wanted to see London the way old people want to see home before they die.”

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff

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Next up, a lovely companion to 84, Charing Cross Road. It’s the early 1970s and Helene Hanff has finally made it across the pond to accomplish her dream trip to London, thanks to the success of the previous book. In this travelogue of her stay we’re treated to Hanff’s particular voice as she soaks in a place that has been calling to her for longer than the decades of her correspondence with Frank Doel.  In some ways I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, […]

“He was a nobody. One of those shy kids who turned into social invalids when that first blast of adolescence hit, meekly accepted their fate, and became invisible.”

My Friend Dahmer: A Graphic Novel by Derk Backderf

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On a whim I grabbed this graphic novel back in spooky season, aka October aka why yes I am behind on reviews but committed to finishing out reviwing all the books I read in 2024 before the year is up. BUCKLE UP FOR LOADS OF REVIEWS, COMING AT YA. But I digress onto this review! Sometimes I feel like an outlier as a 40ish woman who does not have an affinity for true crime podcasts. In my 20s and 30s I had a long relationship […]

I live for the burning snap of a freshly carbonated beverage.

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. by Samantha Irby

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It turns out that I am not very good at making friends unless I am already trapped in an insufferable hellscape with someone who doesn’t mind my cracking a few inappropriate jokes as we circle life’s drain. ― Samantha Irby, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. Forget figuring out how many dates until it’s appropriate to have sex—I want to know how many we have to get through before it’s acceptable to stop. ― Samantha Irby, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. Have […]

Rage against the dying of the light

Men Have Called Her Crazy (2024) by Anna Marie Tendler

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Bingo square rage. I think this completes my bingo row, along with fanfic, fiasco, earth day, golden Content note for the book: suicidal ideation, eating disorders, self harm, mental health “Now I’m furious, so angry my whole body feels hot, and I can tell I’m about to cry.” (p. 211) I’m (still) a fan of Tendler’s ex-husband–and I love that this isn’t about him. Well, it’s about him in the sense that he’s the ‘unfaithful husband’ of the narrative, presumably, the shadow that lurks behind […]

Life on a Cult TV Show – While Also in an Actual Cult!

Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz

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CBR16 Bingo: Rings – A lot of people get married in this book – at least four couples, including the author Lenz to the cult leader’s son. Bethany Joy Lenz is famous for playing Haley James Scott in the cult TV show One Tree Hill, but her experience of this time is even stranger than one would expect – she was in an actual cult at the time. I never watched One Tree Hill, but with a premise like that, who cares? Besides, TV show […]



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