Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Once again trying for the full 52! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: dsbs42's Quick Questions interview.)

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“Don’t limit your dreams, that’s what the school Careers Adviser said. Within reason.”

D: A Tale of Two Worlds by Michel Faber

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A fantasy novel about words and friendship that Neil Gaiman finds glorious? How could this go wrong? I was so excited to read this book, about what might happen when the letter D slowly starts disappearing from the world and only one young girl, Dhikilo Saxardiid Samawada Bentley, seems to notice. I know some people find it cutesy, but I happen to love stories with a warm, friendly narrator who enjoys wordplay and speaks directly to the reader. It’s why The Hobbit is my favourite […]

Midsomer Murders She Wrote

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

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I feel like I should get credit for reading two books here, as once again, one entire novel is sandwiched around another in Anthony Horowitz’s second Susan Ryeland/Atticus Pünd murder(s) mystery. And this time it’s murder squared. In Moonflower Murders, Susan Ryeland (our heroine from Magpie Murders, which I thoroughly enjoyed) is running a hotel on Crete with her boyfriend Andreas, but instead of enjoying paradise, she feels miserable. The hotel’s got money problems, she’s working 24/7, and her relationship with Andreas is souring. When […]

‘What happened to the frogs? We don’t hear them calling anymore.’

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

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This book is equal parts heartbreaking, infuriating, fascinating, and beautiful. It hits my sweet spot exactly between natural history, science, environmentalism, and travel writing (freaking Kolbert got to go to, off the top of my head, Australia, Germany, France, Peru, Panama, Iceland, Scotland, and Italy for this book, and I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting some). This genre is my catnip, and if I could trade lives with any author on the planet, well, it would probably be Michael Palin, actually, but Elizabeth Kolbert and Mary […]

Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

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More Angie Thomas goodness. I loved The Hate You Give and On the Come Up, and was excited to read the prequel from the point of view of Starr Carter’s father, Maverick. This was a quick read, no less impactful for what we already know about will happen to Mav, his girlfriend Lisa, and his two new babies. Because a lot of the backstory was only briefly touched on in THUG, there’s plenty to flesh out here, and I don’t think it’s only because of the […]

Riverdale meets Ferris Bueller’s Day Off meets Ted Lasso

You'll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus

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If you read my review of her last book, this one is going to be more of the same. (Once again – THREE CHARACTERS, KAREN. Why are you doing this to me?) Karen McManus is basically my YA Liane Moriarty, in that I will read whatever light mystery she writes and enjoy it no matter how slight, because she’s good at creating characters I like to spend time with. And also the first books of theirs I read were the best and it’s been somewhat […]

To all the stable geniuses out there, this one’s for you

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo

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I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds the reviews the hardest part of the Cannonball Reads. I read 44 books last year but only managed to review 17 of them. I’m aiming for the full 52 again this year, but this is, I think, the fifth time [ETA it is the sixth] I’ve tried and failed a full Cannonball? It’s harder to create than it is to consume. It’s also easier to tear down than it is to build. It’s easy to write […]



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