Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The splash of my tongue melting you like a sugar cube

Crush by Richard Siken

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I learned about Richard Siken through Pinterest of all things. For those of you who frequent Pinterest, especially those dedicated to romantic pairings from books, the boards are littered with snippets of poetry rendered in retro fonts. Bits of Siken’s poem Little Beast kept showing up in my feed. However, finding a copy of his Yale Series of Younger Poets poetry collection was challenging and I had to special-order it from the UK. Since it is only sixty-two pages plus a forward, I thought I […]

New Cool Book Alert: The Thorn Key

The Thorn Key by Jeana Jorgensen

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The very cool Jeana Jorgensen – folklorist, professor, dancer, and sex educator – has published a gorgeous collection of her fairy tale themed poetry in her new book The Thorn Key! I love Jeana’s academic work. Her books Fairy Tales 101 and Folklore 101 are amazing introductions to both studies, teaching its readers a TON in a way that is fun and conversational. I should have reviewed those here LOL! If you have been interested in learning more about the history and study of fairy […]

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 […]

The meter of the poem fired his blood until he was a molten core. The hammer’s song was a charm for living, a way to keep singing himself into existence.

The Winter Knight by Jes Battis

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The word eôel meant home turf. People trust home. Through years of investigation, her grandmother had learned that what people told you depended on where you talked to them. Lies for every space, but occasionally a truth snuck its way in.” ― Jes Battis, The Winter Knight When she had interviewed him, she’d traced a discreet rune on his phone case. It was sketchy magic, but it should have given her access to the phone’s GPS. The problem was that it wasn’t working. His location […]

It was a relief and a horror to be known so perfectly.

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

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I’m not sure if I can categorize this book as dark academia, but the characters and the story remind me so much of what I enjoyed about “If We Were Villains” and “The Secret History,” it is impossible for me not to draw parallels between them. All three stories are linked by a sudden and violent death, and how those left behind cope with their secrets. Paul is a seventeen-year-old who has recently graduated from high school. He lives with his mother and his two […]

damn whoever tries to burn you

The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace

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One of the Read Harder tasks from 2023 was to read a book of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author and another was to read a book by an author who was geographically close to you. Amanda Lovelace, author of The Princess Saves Herself in This One is both queer and lives in New Jersey so I had put her second book The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One on my to read for the year. And then 2023 just did not cooperate even […]



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