Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“To save the world with music and love, obviously”: cbr12bingo – “Music”, 3rd Bingo!

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow

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The Sound of Stars was initially chosen as a candidate for the “Debut” bingo square (it was released February 2020) but another book was chosen.  Fortunately, it also fits the “Music” square to complete my 3rd bingo! This is a book I wish I had read in my teen years for a variety of reasons.  Accurate representation of anxiety disorder would have been helpful when trying to figure out my own mental health.   For it’s depiction of sexual identity, gender identity, and first time sexual […]

Too Many Extremes

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders

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In August, LittlePlat wrote about this book and I thought “huh, that sounds up my alley,” and I quickly bought it and started to read it. It took a while to get into, but by the second half of the book I couldn’t put it down, and spent a rainy day at the cottage finishing it up. I love the world building. Tidal locked planets seem to be a hot topic in sci-fi these days, and I’ve enjoyed reading some of the ideas about how […]

Even better the second time

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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Rereading Gideon the Ninth was an interesting experience. The first time around, I was completely lost for the first half of the book, which caused me to become progressively more frustrated. Then I hit the middle and it was like a rollercoaster ride to the finish. The second half was such a marvel, I completely forgave the author for not explaining much in the first half. This time, since I wasn’t feeling confused and vaguely annoyed, I enjoyed the first half a great deal more. […]

Getting back to my Animorphs re-read, sort of.

The Suspicion (Animorphs, #24) by K.A. Applegate

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The Helmacrons are the worst villains. I also like them and think they are effective and ridiculous? It’s complicated. The Helmacrons are an extremely violent and egomaniacal alien species that has decided to invade Earth and subject all citizens to their will, destroying the rest. They are also 1/16th of an inch tall. Cassie finds their spaceship and thinks it’s a toy, so she donates it to Goodwill. The Helmacrons are very angered by this, and call for help. The result is two tiny spaceships […]

The very human connection between a young woman and an alien

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

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The year is 2007. Fergie’s latest single is playing on the radio and Bush is president. I wasn’t expecting so many cultural references in Axiom’s End, but the first chapter along sent me spiraling back to my 17 self in junior year of high school. Thankfully, the cultural references stop there, lest this book turn into a derivative of Ready Player One. Cora is just trying to make it in LA. She helps raise her two younger siblings with her mom. Their dad, Nils, complicates […]

“It might be that saving the world is idiotically simple. Maybe we just need to connect and care for one another.” #CBRBingo – Shelfie

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor (The Carls, #2) by Hank Green

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I give this beautiful eyesore of a book five stars. Well, 4.5 rounded up. I kind of don’t know what to say about this book! It was a lot! And, honestly, I liked the first book in this duology (3.5 stars worth), but it didn’t blow my socks off or anything. This one kind of did. I think there was a huge jump in quality here, but also a huge jump in scale. There was a focus on April in the first one that kept […]



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