Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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I'm a librarian, a singer, a cosplayer, an overachiever... @cosbrarian on most platforms. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Cosbrarian's 2025 Quick Questions interview.)

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Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

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I’m a librarian, and I feel like I’m living in resistance to a patriarchal dystopia, so when I came across UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED, a book that touts itself as a story of librarians working in resistance to a patriarchal dystopia but IN AN OLD WEST REVIVAL (derogatory), I decided it was both close enough and far away enough to merit a read. Esther is the daughter of a powerful political man, and has been raised to be a proper daughter of one: she’s betrothed to […]

More Inspirational Than Adaptational

White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link

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Another great modern fairy tale collection, though very different than the Adelmann book. Link takes seven folktales and creates original, contemporary fairy tales inspired by them. “The White Cat’s Divorce” is the opener, based on my beloved Madame d’Aulnoy’s “The White Cat” – and Link’s version is actually VERY close to the original story, except for its conclusion (which is a delicious twist). But her narration sounds very “21st century d’Aulnoy,” and the basic premise is the same. So it surprised me when over half […]

Smart cookies

Vasilisa the Wise and Other Tales of Brave Young Women by Kate Forsyth

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Vasilisa the Wise is one of a half dozen or so fairy tale collections Kate Forsyth wrote for children (though I didn’t know its audience going into it, and other than the fact that the photo-illustrations feature children in the lead parts, I might not have figured that out). They are traditionally but lovingly told, with a few adjustments for the modern era, which the author discusses. Each story has background information, on why the author or illustrator picked it for the book, how they […]

How to Talk to Your Succulent

How to Talk to Your Succulent by Zoe Persico

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Adara and her dad are moving in with her grandmother, after Adara’s mother dies. Her father won’t talk to her about her mother’s death or why they are moving from California to Michigan to begin with. Luckily, her grandmother is a great source of comfort, Adara quickly makes a friend, and she develops an interest in one of her mother’s passions: plants. The plants, it seems, also have an interest in her: for Adara realizes she can talk to them. But being a good friend […]

Fairy Tale Group Therapy

How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann

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Ok this might be my favorite read of the year. How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann is about a group of women who receive a mysterious email inviting them to take part in a group therapy session specifically focused on women who have been through a very public trauma. Each of the women, it turns out, are characters from our most famous fairy tales, with a modern twist. Bernice found out her blue-obsessed tech billionaire boyfriend is a serial killer, Ruby survived a wolf […]

“My life will be the best illustration of all my work.”

Hans Christian Andersen: The Life of a Storyteller by Jackie Wullschläger

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I love Hans Christian Andersen. I love his deranged and depressing stories. Three of my favorite fairytales are his, and I’ve gotten a lot of mileage for my F*cked Up Fairy Tales from poking fun at him. But he is the first person on my list of “Dead or Alive People I’d Like at My Dinner Party.” Despite this, it took me approximately one thousand years to get around to reading the well-received biography I purchased a while back, Hans Christian Andersen: the Life of […]



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