Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

What can a potato do?

Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa: Join the Quest with Peru's Famed Scientist and Potato Expert by Sara Andrea Fajardo and Juana Martinez-Neal

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As with several books I was not going to read, Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa: Join the Quest with Peru’s Famed Scientist and Potato Expert by Sara Andrea Fajardo and Juana Martinez-Neal (illustrator) was one of them, but it eventually found its way to my TBR pile as it was on a Best of 2025 Picture Book list. This was the final sign that told me I probably should read it. I was still nervous as when a book gets that hyped […]

What would you do?

Shadows on the Ice: The 1972 Andes Disaster by Frédéric Bertocchini, Thierry Diette and Pacal Nino

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History, CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge I am starting this with saying this is, to say the least, not an easy read. There are several situations that could be triggering. The main one is that this is about the 1972 Andes plane crash that would result in the eventual consumption of the deceased passengers. I was not completely ready for what was going to happen (and I felt I was prepared) and therefore I was not comfortable with the subject. Also, I will say that I […]

“The world is paralyzed, and humanity is in quarantine. It is a strange symmetry that I was born in one pandemic and will die during another.”

Violeta by Isabel Allende

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This was the library book club pick for the month and my first Isabel Allende novel. I looooved it, but it was a highly contested work at the book club (with many people rating it very poorly), but since this is MY review I’ll defend my position, and (somewhat begrudgingly) give insights into the critiques. This novel reminded Min Jin Lee’s “Pachinko” in its tone and ability to captivate me, and in introducing me to a geography/history that I don’t know a lot about (in […]

“their houses would have wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors so that Esteban’s memory could go everywhere without bumping into beams”

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa (Translator)

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I have been circling Gabriel García Márquez for decades, almost too afraid to approach his work at all. On and off the reading lists his works go, a constant pendulum of my ambition or lack thereof. When staring at our Bingo squares and realizing a few short stories and novellas were likely to help my progress I went on the hunt for a few and The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel García Márquez came up. Here we go, I thought – here’s […]

An interesting premise, but not one I cared about enough to continue

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

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Did not finish It is 1981 in Buenos Aires. Juan and his young son Gaspar embark on a cross-country trip to his late wife’s family compound. It is clear from the beginning that Juan is ill and is still suffering the after-effects of recent heart surgery and the sudden loss of his wife Rosario. This is no ordinary road trip. He is struggling to support his son, who does not understand what is really happening and is traumatized by his mother’s death and his father’s […]

São Paulo and the Gates

Paradise City by Joe Thomas

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Read as part of CBR15Bingo: South America. The story takes place (and is largely a commentary on) the city of São Paulo, Brazil, which is located in South America.  There’s a specific kind of fevered, conspiracy-addled, crime fiction that only works in the right hands. Told in a postmodern, often repetitious style that many find grating (including, often, me). And the endings are often ambiguous, incomplete, or complete in a way that you cannot possibly accept or understand. You have to be willing to go […]



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