Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Be Careful What You Wish For

The Invisible Life of Addie Laroux by V.E. Schwab

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Addie Laroux was born in the 1690’s in France. Paradoxically, her very normal life led her to the most abnormal of circumstances. Facing the shackles of marriage and domestic county life, Addie ran into the woods and prayed for her freedom. In her haste, she appealed to whichever god would listen. But in her desperation, she also prayed after the sun went down, and forgot a warning to never pray to the gods who answer after dark. And it was Luc who answered. Make no […]

Still relevant 75 years later

1984 by George Orwell

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Despite being 75 years old, this novel holds up remarkably well. I think people can relate 1984 to a variety of things in their lives – an abusive family life, an impossible workplace, or even the society in which they live. But the book is actually about a dystopian future society (which was 1984 according to Orwell, who wrote this novel in 1949). After an atomic war in the 50’s, the world condensed itself into three nation states: Eurasia, Oceania, and East Asia. Airstrip One, […]

‘Aint no chocolates here

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill

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“Buy my step-father’s ghost.” You’d think this was a novel idea, but it is something you can find on ebay today. I was going to link something here but got the heebie jeebies just searching for haunted items and don’t need the bad vibes right now. Although I have to wonder, does it increase the value of an item to describe it as haunted? In either case, buyer beware! Heart Shaped Box is Hill’s first full-length novel, published in 2007 (he also published a collection […]

Remember Slenderman? Here’s the case that made him famous outside the internet

Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls by Kathleen Hale

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In 2014, in Wisconsin, a young girl was nearly killed. There were a number of reasons this case was unusual, but among the top were that it was perpetrated by two 12-year old girls and that the apparent motive revolved around the fictional and internet-famous Slenderman. While this sounds fascinating, it was less about Slenderman and more about the delusions kids can talk themselves into. What was more relevant is the fact that one of the two girls was experiencing undiagnosed schizophrenia at the time. […]

Horrifically funny

The September House by Carissa Orlando

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Have you seen the show Ghosts? It’s a campy sitcom about a woman who sees ghosts in her house and has learned to live with them. This is kinda like that, but a lot more macabre, and a lot more funny! If it isn’t bad enough to live in a haunted house, try living in this haunted house in September! The ghosts act up more than usual, the walls bleed profusely, and forget about sleeping, with all the moaning and screaming. But Margaret is resigned […]

I don’t recommend reading a sequel before reading the first one

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

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This book made me kinda mad. But it’s partially my fault. Apparently it’s a sequel and I’m not sure how I didn’t know that going in. For those who live under a rock, like me, Jennifer Egan wrote A Visit From the Goon Squad. Did you know there’s a sequel to that? Yeah yeah. I’m not convinced you need to read one to get the other though. Based on Egan’s style of writing, which is to say, eclectic. There are a multitude of characters with […]



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