Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Any mom who misses a chance to dress her kid up like a hotdog sounds like a psychopath to me.

Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

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He’s looking to validate himself through someone else. She hasn’t caught on because she doesn’t know who she is. ― Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age CBR17 Bingo: TBR For the past week, I’ve tried to think of an appropriate metaphor for what this reading experience was like for me. In terms of amusement park metaphors, it was like a rollercoaster with the slow climb to the top, each click of the chain ramping up the tension until you’re yanked up and over, all of […]

“But not everyone has dreams. Some people just are, the way that trees and rocks and rivers are just there without a reason, the rest of the world moving around them.”

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

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CBR17 Bingo: Citizen – Though Cora is a citizen of the United States, her race – as well as the race of the many murdered Asian women in this book – makes everyone around them perceive them as foreigners to the point that they are stripped of the safety that their citizenships were supposed to have given them. Cora works as a crime scene cleaner during the COVID-19 pandemic – after witnessing her sister pushed in front of a train, the gore doesn’t bother her anymore. […]

Sinners

The White Road by John Connolly

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This is a tough one. I’ve been waiting for four rather long books (by mystery standards) for John Connolly to deliver the goods. I’ve received glimpses into what makes him a good writer and what makes these stories work: some well done mystery scenes and a dash of the supernatural. But I’ve been patiently waiting for him to take the next step. Does he do it here? Yes. But! Sigh… Ok, I’ll go with what works first and what I’m having a hard time with. […]

War and a family

Shell Song: Based on a True Family Story by Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson

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Shell Song: Based on a True Family Story by Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson and also illustrated by Fujimoto-Johnson is currently available, but I read via an online reader copy. The start of the story is set right before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Afterwards, the narrator’s grandfather is sent to an internment camp with other men. In age appropriate language (at least five and up) the experiences of the grandfather and family back home unfold. As set in Hawaii, seashells will play a role in keeping the […]

The King is Dead and Secrets Will Roll

The King Is Dead by Benjamin Dean

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Taken from a review found online:  Sometimes I find it really hard to rate a book, and The King is Dead is one of them. A lot of my friends had already read it and almost unanimously gave it three stars. Their conclusion: a nice story, but … a bit boring and a rushed ending, a fun read but off pacing, a solid book but lacking subtlety, you name it. And I can understand them all. And still … I found The King Is Dead […]

Children’s Music comes to life

A Life of Song: The Story of Ella Jenkins (The First Lady of Children's Music) by Ty-Juana Taylor

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I was  texting with a friend of mine the other day about how I like biographies of people who are not as well known. I had not yet found A Life of Song: The Story of Ella Jenkins (The First Lady of Children’s Music) by Ty-Juana Taylor and illustrated by Jade Johnson at that time,  but boy does it fit that category. If I had heard of Ella Jenkins, I have since forgotten it.  She is a woman who brought music to the people to […]



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