Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Simon Snow’s Adventures Come to an End

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

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I didn’t find Wayward Son quite as engaging as Carry On,  possibly because I was already familiar with the world of Simon Snow, or maybe I’m just not a fan of road trip stories. I still enjoyed reading it, and I did eventually feel fully engaged in the novel. It just took a little while for me to get there. The novel is set about a year or so after the events of Carry On. Penny and Baz are finishing up their first year of university, while […]

Chosen Ones and Their Problems

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

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Rainbow Rowell was inspired by her own Simon Snow novel and fanfiction that she created in her novel Fangirl, so she decided to go ahead and turn it into its own book (now a trilogy). Both paying homage to subverting other Chosen One and fantasy novels, as well as fanfiction, Simon Snow is the story of a mage grappling with being the Chosen One while also living his day-to-day life with its attendant relationship dramas. In particular, it is expected that he will save the […]

The whole world is a nerd.

Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell

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I’m waiting for Rowell to send another satisfyingly awkward love story (without magic and told mostly with words and not pictures) out into the world. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the Simon Snow books. I also enjoyed Pumpkinhead even though graphic novels really aren’t my thing. But, I yearn for books like Eleanor and Park and Fangirl and Attachments. So, I attempted to scratch that itch with this set of short stories. I had read a couple of these in other collections […]

I make bad life decisions

Marigold and Rose by Louise Glück

She-Hulk #8 by Rainbow Rowell

She-Hulk #9 by Rainbow Rowell

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The other day I went to pick up the puppy-corn bucket we’d painted for our dog Winston at Color Me Mine and decided to stop at the Target up there while I was out, since I needed a couple things. When the Starbucks inside somehow didn’t have a functioning coffee machine, my dumb ass decided to jet on over to the Barnes & Noble across the street to get my Starbucks fix… and for an excuse to probably spend money I shouldn’t on books (I […]

Catch-Up 22

Chainsaw Man Vol. 13 by Tatsuki Fujimoto

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll

My Rosebud Boy by Rainbow Rowell

She-Hulk #7 by Rainbow Rowell

Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell

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I’m late to the game with these reviews, plus I missed the best and worst of the year talks, but I don’t wanna falsely claim these as 2023 reads next year, so here goes. I’ve done very little in the way of reading these last two months of the year, pretty much keeping to my usual comfort picks, as I’m sure you can tell. Getting married, working 50 hours a week for a little while, and having two major holidays, will do that to you, […]

This isn’t it…

Fangirl, Vol. 1: The Manga by Sam Maggs

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Look, I love Rainbow Rowell, I love Fangirl, and I love comics. How, then, could Fangirl, the manga, not be a homerun for me? I think my gripes begin and end with the art style. I could rant about how this isn’t manga, seeing as manga literally means a Japanese comic book, but plenty of people have said their peace about that already. It’s in a “manga style,” I guess, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, even if it remains quite sus. No, what bothers […]



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