Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Pike, This Ain’t Wuthering Heights

The Shocking Experiments of Miss Mary Bennet by Melinda Taub

by Leave a Comment

Mary Bennet is famously the odd one out among her bright, vivacious sisters – an awkward show-off and a bore. But in this book, it’s what Mary’s doing off the page that deserves attention. This book is part-sequel, part-companion to the fabulous The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch, which I read and greatly enjoyed last year. You haven’t got to read that book to enjoy this one – Mary and Lydia are after all not exactly close – but there’s definitely some things which […]

“I once thought opportunities were ever arising, but now, older, I realize how thinly the door to destiny opens, how quickly it shuts.”

Every Rising Sun by Jamila Ahmed

by Leave a Comment

CBR17 Bingo: Arts – Shaherazade is a storyteller, and her weaving and telling of tales is her chief pleasure and weapon throughout the story. When Shaherazade anonymously informs the Malik Shahriyar of his wife’s infidelity, she never imagines the madness – and the murders – to follow. Desperate to save the kingdom and Shahriyar himself, she nominates herself to be his bride, gambling her life on her storytelling. But between the ongoing Crusades and political tensions with neighboring kingdoms, Shaherazade may have bitten off more […]

Sometimes the Real Treasure is the Monsters We Made Friends With Along the Way

Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell

by Leave a Comment

Heracles may be the son of Zeus, but he does all his deeds in the name of Hera, the goddess of families. When he is struck with madness by a mysterious god and kills his children, he’s sure Hera will return that devotion and help him gain revenge on whoever it was that did it – not realizing that she has hated him all along. Greek mythology retellings have been in vogue in the last few years, following heroes and villains alike and reinterpreting their […]

“What, other than a person, could you build up merely by caring?”

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

by 4 Comments

Hey look, I read my very first Brandon Sanderson book! Even better, I really liked it. Very nearly 5-star loved it.   I have been intrigued by the writings of Brandon Sanderson for years, it’s hard to be a Cannonballer and not see many of the people whose opinions you generally agree with, and trust have incredibly complementary things to say about it. But the kind of massive, high fantasy volumes that Sanderson is infamous for have never been my thing. But then I kept […]

“He is a person, complicated and confused. Just like you.”

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

by Leave a Comment

Ayesha at Last is a retelling the story of Pride and Prejudice featuring the titular Ayesha, a Muslim woman in her late twenties who has put aside her dreams of poetry and just finished a career change to become a teacher, financed by her wealthy uncle who has been financially supportive of her family since her father’s death including moving them to Canada and giving them the house they share with her grandparents. She is single and being passed on the proverbial marriage mart by […]

The Other Side of Huckleberry Finn

James by Percival Everett

by Leave a Comment

CBR16 Bingo: Fanfic – This book is a reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which centers the viewpoint of the runaway slave Jim who accompanied Huck on his travels on the Mississippi. Jim is well-known as Huckleberry Finn’s runaway slave companion, but in this retelling we meet him as James, a character for who the stakes are higher and the world much more vicious than we ever glimpse in Mark Twain’s classic novel. It’s been a long while since I last read […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo