Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“The human factor is three-quarters of any expedition.”

Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton

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I’m apparently not normally a reader of books about polar exploration. I cannot find a single one in my 12 years of book reviews. I know it’s an area that I watch documentaries about, but apparently not one I read (although I do occasionally read books about Mt. Everest). However, over the past few months I’ve added several to my to-read list. I’m not sure why, maybe it was my pleasant reading experience of Ghost Ship last summer that put books about exploration by boat […]

“To slowly, slowly give in to the inevitability of adulthood in the hopes that I will age as gracefully as Paris has.”

French Milk by Lucy Knisley

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First, a word on ratings and expectations. French Milk is by my quick count my third Lucy Knisley book (I read Relish way back in 2016 and An Age of License in 2018). So, when I decided to restart my Knisley experience I figured might as well go back to the beginning with her 2007 book French Milk thinking I knew what to expect having read books previously from the author about her mom, food, and travel and this book combines those in Paris. I […]

Queer Marriage of Convenience Lau-Style

Two Friends in Marriage by Jackie Lau

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Two Friends in Marriage is the third book in Jackie Lau’s Weddings with the Moks series. I read the first two last year, enjoying Four Weddings to Fall in Love well enough and found the second book Three Reasons to Run to fall into the best of Lau’s writing. Unfortunately for me the third book had some issues that kept me from loving it in execution as much as I loved it in theory.   Lau is interested in telling stories about characters with diverse sexual […]

“If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much.”

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

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When I started writing this review, I could not have told you what made me put 84, Charing Cross Road onto my to-read list back in August 2015. So, then I did what I usually do in that scenario and checked the Cannonball Read archives to see if there was a review that launched it onto my list and sure enough, there were two in 2015 – one by scootsa1000 and another by yesknopemaybe that sealed the deal for me. While it took me 9 years […]

“With the mystery genre booming in print and on screen at present, I have had no problem satisfying my cravings for crime.”

Gardening Can Be Murder: How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers by Marta McDowell

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Are you in the mood for a light and breezy book about how gardens and gardeners feature in crime and mystery writing? If so, I have the book for you. I am not a gardener, in fact my great grandparents who ran a greenhouse would be shocked at my inability to understand the finer points of plants and their needs and five years of working on a living history farm did not improve the situation. But it did introduce me to the author of Gardening […]

“But afterwards you went on remembering.”

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

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Confession time: this is the first Agatha Christie novel I have read. I know, I’m surprised too. When thinking about where I wanted to jump in one of her standalone novels felt like the right choice, and since I had watched the adaptation of Why Didn’t They Ask Evans and remembered the plot I figured going into one without any preconceived notions was probably for the best. As it was the end of October one with spooky vibes (a group of strangers invited to an […]



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