Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Creating seasons where none exist (Groundhog Day part II)

On the Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle

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CBR 17 BINGO: Green (see cover image) Translated by Barbara Haveland Back in April, I read the first installment of Solvej Balle’s seven-part series On the Calculation of Volume and was impressed by its poetic sublimity. I wondered how she could possibly extend the concept into six more novels. I enjoyed part II, but I’m still wondering where this is going. To recap, in part I, bookseller Tara Selter is experiencing “broken time.” She appears to be caught in a loop where she keeps experiencing […]

Probably best to skip the mystery dumplings at the night market

Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau

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4.5 stars Thank you to Netgalley, Jackie Lau and Atria Books for this ARC. My opinions are my own. Noelle Tom feels like she’s in a rut. She’s underappreciated at work, she doesn’t have much of a social life to speak of, and she’s pretty much given up on love and dating. Having worked late yet another Friday evening, Noelle goes to the night market and buys some dumplings from a mysterious old woman who claims they will “give her what she needed most”. Unfortunately, […]

Groundhog Day with a food scene

Time Loops and Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau

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This is only my second Jackie Lau novel (I think, if Goodreads is accurate). I actually quite liked the other novel I read by her and yet … I don’t know, sometimes, you just have those authors that you check out, you enjoy but they just also don’t quite pull you in enough to make you want to go read everything else they have written, for whatever the reason. I generally like a good time loop story, though (hello Palm Springs, Groundhog Day and that […]

A sublime take on Groundhog Day

On the Calculation of Volume, Book I by Solvej Balle

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On November 18, Tara Selter wakes up in Paris and goes about her day of meeting with book sellers to view and purchase rare editions for the business she runs with her husband, Thomas. She goes to sleep that night with a plan for November 19, more appointments to keep, more books to consider. When she wakes up, she slowly comes to understand that she is reliving November 18 again. Anyone who has seen the Bill Murray classic (one of my favorite comedies, I’m not […]

It’s corn (I can’t imagine a more beautiful thing)

What Stalks Among Us by Sarah Hollowell

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One of the reading challenges I am doing this year requires reading a young adult horror novel.  I used What Stalks Among Us by Sarah Hollowell to check off that box.  To be honest I probably would have read this one anyway because of the haunted/mysterious corn maze, kind of punny title (corn has stalks …get it?) and time loops, well all those things check off internal “this is going to be good” checkboxes for me. The plot of the novel is that besties Sadie […]

“It never occurred to me that you might be mine.”

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

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One of the prevailing bits of wisdom running around if you happen to find yourself with COVID (which I probably do – not to worry, I’m not feeling too poorly, have plenty of supplies, and have a test scheduled) is to avoid screens. With that in mind, and cognizant that my brain does not want to focus on anything weighty (which is seriously impinging on my ability to finish So You Want to Talk About Race and Eva Luna) I settled in on the couch […]



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