Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“You keep going, you’ll eventually realize that the one true answer to all your questions is: Of course it doesn’t make sense—what business do you have expecting things to make sense?” (Bingo #3)

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

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Back when I reviewed Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half in 2014 I asserted then that she was one of the most honest writers and humorists that you were likely to come across on your bookstore shelves. Her follow up, Solutions and Other Problems supports my earlier claim and is so much better, more thoughtful than its predecessor. Each chapter contains the kind of introspection that will make you think “yup, I know that feeling”. This one isn’t as funny as Hyperbole but that matches […]

“High crimes were probably better suited to a betrothal than a mere courting gift: you couldn’t just start burning things down in hopes the other person found it romantic. You’d want to be sure.” (CBR Bingo)

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows (Feminine Pursuits #2) by Olivia Waite

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Let’s get this part out of the way early – I was prepared to love this book and I only really like it. Here’s the thing: there’s too much story here and I feel like a heel for saying so. But, bear with me. One of the things I love most in really good romance writing is that the authors aren’t afraid to interact with larger themes. These books aren’t just sexytimes (we have erotica for that) they are not just character studies (although lord […]

“And if you say that’s because you lot barged into her home like a herd of mentally deficient sheep, I’m disowning all three of you.” (CBR12 Bingo)

The Duke and I (Bridgertons #1) by Julia Quinn

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Continuing down the road of comfort reading I’ve decided to do some rereading of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series. I first read the books in 2015 and loved them then, and I’m happy to report that after my latest reading of The Duke and I, the first book in the series,  that I’m just as pleased now as I was then. Even better, there’s a Netflix adaptation of the series on the way – season one finished filming before COVID shutdown most television production but we […]

“I believe we have to laugh and shudder in order to understand our own human history, which is partially an inheritance of death.”

Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer

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Here in the time of Covid Quarantine I find myself struggling to focus on reading most books. I need something that I can bounce in and out of and apparently books about serial killers are my jam right now. Hot on the heels of my last book, I picked up Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer which I received as a Christmas gift (I am also officially out of dead tree format library books). I had been excited to read it when […]

“Missing you is profoundly inconvenient, I’ll have you know. I have things to do and places to be, and all the while I’ll feel like I’ve mislaid a piece of my soul and I won’t get it back until I see you again. That can’t be normal.”

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian

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I should have read this one much closer to the previous two in the series, The Soldier’s Scoundrel and The Lawrence Brown Affair because so many of our previous characters reappear here and are woven into the plot. As a reader you can tell that Sebastian was getting more comfortable in her writing, overall, this book is stronger than the previous two, even if Sebastian shortchanges the plot a smidge in the final third. I continue to really like how Cat Sebastian builds her stories: […]

“Because, my girl you are sacred, valuable, indispensable, and irreplaceable”

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women by Lisa Charleyboy, Mary Beth Leatherdale (editors)

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I keep doing reading challenges for a couple reasons, but one of them is that it tends to point out areas that my reading habits need to expand. This year the Read Harder Challenge includes tasks for both YA Non-fiction and to read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author. I’ve already read one YA Non-fiction this year, but while I was hunting up titles I came across #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women edited by Lisa Charleyboy and […]



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