Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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I'm left-handed! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Halbs's Quick Questions interview.)

Halbs's Reviews:

A Copycat Serial Killer in a 90s Midwestern Noir

Scream City by Hannah Morrissey

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I’ve been a fan of author Hannah Morrissey since the debut of Hello, Transcriber, the first book in her Black Harbor series. She uses the term “Midwestern Noir” to describe her books – kind of like Scandi noir in tone, but set in rusting cities of the American midwest. While Morrissey’s Black Harbor books are cold and grimy, the organic warmth of characters trying to maintain their humanity always comes through. The humanity is what keeps me coming back – some human connection in a […]

It’s nice to be seen

The INFJ Writer by Lauren Sapala

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Elder millennials can’t have cool mid-life crises because we’re all too broke. Instead of getting a hair transplant and a Corvette, I got a mental breakdown and a neurodivergence diagnosis. The doctor who did my testing recommended that I look into specific issues that “gifted” and “intense” people face. That tip led me to Eggshell Therapy and Coaching, which is an entity run by Imi Lo. That site has a lot of essays written by Imi Lo, and those made me feel very seen. I […]

Bananas Alternate History Blending WWII and Dinosaurs

Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson

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My father-in-law recommended this book, the first in the Destroyermen series, to me. We both enjoy sci-fi and military history, so he thought this alternate-history novel, with WWII-era tech and dinosaurs, would be fun for me. What he doesn’t know is that I also enjoy the Honor Harington books, which are basically naval battles in space (based loosely on the Horatio Hornblower books). All that to say – I’m predisposed to enjoying this kind of thing. And I did! Written by a weapons historian, Into […]

Nerds vs Nazis

Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II by Elyse Graham

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As promised by the title, Graham’s Book and Dagger delivers plenty of stories of academics and librarians helping the Allies in World War II through espionage and other covert ways. As the book notes, the best spy isn’t someone dashing like a James Bond. It’s someone who can’t even get a waiter’s attention. Bring in the nerds! No one can get away with collecting books, or asking questions about train gauges, or fiddling with a dam, quite like a nerd. In my mind, though, the […]

“No one has listened to me my whole life and I really want to be heard.”

Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna

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My observation about punks, the real ones, is that they’re hard on everyone. Even themselves. Their highest standards come from a desire for things to be better than they are. It’s from having an open heart and caring deeply. In my younger years, a lot of my heroes were exacting artists who cared deeply. Unfortunately, a lot of them are now dead. The world was too much. Therefore, I’m very interested in the punks who survived and seem to be more at peace with the […]

Late to the party, but still at the party!

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

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Each year, my spouse and I pick out five books for each other to read. The Wedding People was on my 2026 list, so here we are! A great recommendation. Five stars. It’s almost like she knows me. I know this was a monster book in 2024, so you probably already know about it. If you are one of the uninitiated like I was, The Wedding People is a feel-good dramedy set in a fancy Rhode Island hotel. As you can probably guess, pretty much all […]



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