Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About Ale

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I'm adjuncting in creative writing, and I'm in the midst of editing my first novel. Along with CBR, I have book reviews published with "The Literary Review," short essay with "Fiction Southeast" and a forthcoming publication with "The Book Smuggler's Den." CBR has definitely helped my writing skills since now I know what readers are looking for for in their works. So, thank you, CBR! Hopefully someday, we'll be able to review my novel on this blog. :)

Ale's Reviews:

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Beauty & Cruelty

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

by 2 Comments

After the herculean doorstop that was Brandon Sanderson’s Way of Kings, I needed a fast, fun, and gripping read. So I turned to Holly Black, whose Folk of the Air trilogy I gobbled up in about 72 hours over Thanksgiving break. The Darkest Part of the Forest did not disappoint, and I blew through it in a day. Written a few years before Folk of the Air, it was fun to see how Black was playing around with the themes and premises that she later expanded […]

Getting Back in the High Fantasy Game

The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson

by 7 Comments

I will preface this review by saying this kind of writing used to be my jam. I inhaled massive high fantasy series in high school and college, exclusively reading Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Mark Lawrence, Patrick Rothfuss,  and GRR Martin. But then I joined CBR and started reading more widely. I fell out of love with the war-heavy, white male centric doorstops and found a new home in magical realism and the glory of a one-book wonder. Aside from rereading Tolkien, I’ve had a hard […]

Ye Olde Childrearing

Ungovernable: The Victorian Parent's Guide to Raising Flawless Children by Therese O'Neill

by 3 Comments

I was a huge fan of O’Neill’s first book, Unmentionable, so when a friend sent along the link for her newest publication, I immediately ordered it from the library. Similar to Unmentionable, O’Neill tackles the crazy of the Victorian era with wit, sarcasm, and a dose of brutal honesty that both criticizes the dark parts of Victorian parenting culture while also contextualizing it in a way that makes it understandable, if not condonable. Where Unmentionable focused on sex, love, and marriage for young women, Ungovernable tackles the next stage […]

Old Wives Tales Vs. Science

Expect Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong, and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster

by 10 Comments

After much wondering if it was even possible, hubby and I are expecting. And while I’d done quite a bit of research on the process and probability of conception, I’d done virtually no research on what to do after you managed to succeed (mostly because I didn’t think we would). Days after my second positive test, I stared at the coffee pot, vaguely remembering my pregnant friends abstaining from caffeine, fish, deli meats and a hoard of other things. I stood in a first-trimester fatigue […]

“Those Words You Want to Say Right Now? Don’t Say Them.”

City of Thieves by David Benioff

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Because I’m always a billion years behind popular culture, I had no idea that the David Benioff of the Game of Thrones TV show was also an author. And a good one! In applying for a freelance job that wanted an analytical summary of the first three chapters of City of Thieves, I was hooked and had to read the whole thing. I didn’t get the job, but I really enjoyed the novel. City of Thieves is a historical fiction surrounding the siege and starvation of […]



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