Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Gendered correctly by President Jimmy Carter.

Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place (A Transgender Memoir) by Jackson Bird

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I really enjoyed this transgender memoir, and I really enjoy Jackson Bird, as it turns out! Before we get to the millionaire-author-sized elephant in the room, this is a pretty basic memoir about Jackson’s life from birth to his late twenties, with a specific focus on his struggles with gender and sexuality before finally coming out as a trans man at age 25. This was an extremely solid book, told with clear uncomplicated prose, and an impressive sense of self-reflection. As a cis person, I […]

I love everything this book chooses to be. #CBRBINGO – Font

Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1) by Xiran Jay Zhao

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“How do you take the fight out of half the population and render them willing slaves? You tell them they’re meant to do nothing but serve from the minute they’re born. You tell them they’re weak. You tell them they’re prey. You tell them over and over, until it’s the only truth they’re capable of living.” This book is a scream of rage into the night, and I’m so glad it got published. Even if you don’t normally read YA, I would urge you to […]

Mostly a history of sex work in London, actually.

The Sexual History of London by Catharine Arnold

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I’m finding it a little tough to write about this one, because I’m not sure exactly what didn’t work for me. I can draw a rough circle around it, but pinpointing seems to be beyond me at the moment. Maybe because I’m not a historian. (Worth noting, I can clearly identify the parts I did enjoy.) This is a book entirely about sex! Sex throughout history in a specific geographical location! I have always liked reading about sex, and the history of sex, and here’s […]

Komodo dragon fascinators!!

Four Aunties and a Wedding (Aunties, #2) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2 Book 2/30 A more than worthy follow-up to Dial A For Aunties, which was one of my favorite reads last year (and favorite audiobooks; Risa Mei is a great narrator). If you liked Meddy and the Aunties the first time, you will like them here as well. I keep seeing people describe these books as cozy mysteries, but they’re not, at all. Cozy mysteries are a very specific thing, and I wouldn’t describe this as one, despite aspects […]

“The greater the desire, the greater the suffering, and now she desired greatness itself.”

She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1) by Shelley Parker-Chan

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I was a weeny and put off writing a review of this because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say about it, and now it’s been a month since I finished. I feel like I’ve told you this story before. Coincidentally, this is a retelling! I didn’t pay too much attention to the specific plot of this one before reading it, other than the keywords “historical” and “Mulan” and “retelling”. This is why you shouldn’t pay attention to other people sometimes. It is historical, […]

Half-baked fantasy, over-baked drama.

The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1) by Olivie Blake

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This self-pubbed book apparently blew up on BookTok, and honestly, from the other books that have done that (an older Colleen Hoover release, for example), I should have known this one wouldn’t be perfectly to my taste, but I was curious! Also, the synopsis sounded great, and I liked the look of the cover. It is now being re-released in 2022 after having been picked up by Tor. I do hope they whip it into shape a little, but my fear is they will let […]



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