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:

“I will not let brutality rule my life.”

The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy

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This is a confusing one to review. I can’t call Ellroy’s Black Dahlia entertaining because the story is so brutal, misogynist, racist, and disturbing. It is, however, compelling. Just like the characters in the book, I couldn’t leave the mystery alone. Who was the Black Dahlia? Who killed her? Why? The book is unsettling, and necessarily so. I wouldn’t recommend reading it if the topics of rape or other forms of brutality are topics best not brought up for you at this time. While this […]

“Everyone loves a beautiful dead girl.”

Windhall by Ava Barry

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Windhall is a novel about Hollywood, the way men treat women, fame, obsession, and Los Angeles. Hailey is an antisocial journalist at a counterculture zine turned blog (I think) in LA. He is obsessed with the decades old murder of a Hollywood star at the home of an infamous director. His obsession weaves in with his own family’s story, as well as the DNA of modern day Los Angeles. It’s hard for him to separate the glamour and allure of the city with the facts, […]

A Beach Read on the Beach

Camino Island by John Grisham

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The wildest thing about this John Grisham book is that it’s not about lawyers. Our man John instead focuses on writers, books, heists, and French furntiure. It’s a welcome and pleasant departure for the reader as much as I’m sure it is for Grisham. It’s a fun little novel that would probably make a nice little Netflix limited run series. Or Paramount+, mayhaps. If you like fun but relaxing beach reads with a little bit of danger and sexiness – here you go.   Mercer […]

Do the Hustle

Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe

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When I started this book I wasn’t sure how long I would continue reading. A teenage guy with a lot of swagger talking about “the hustle” and “the hunger” for making it – not really what I’m into. However, Ben Philippe’s charming novel and character are not what they seem on the surface – that’s the whole point of this enjoyable read. Charming as a Verb is about first-generation Haitian-American Henry Haltiwanger. He lives on the Upper West side of NYC where his dad is […]

A satisfying end to a great sci-fi trilogy

The Last Colony by John Scalzi

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Reviewing books in the middle of a series is always tricky because, by definition, spoilers are inherent. The fact that the the cover of this book says it’s a sequel to Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades already gives away certain information about the plot, let alone the back cover summary. All that aside, I will try to just give the bare bones of this plot along with this statement of the trilogy – it’s a fun, entertaining, and satisfying series. Now, to The […]

Bond…Anachronism Bond

Ian Fleming's James Bond in VARGR by Warren Ellis, Jason Masters

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My local library allows us to roam the shelves in thirty-minute increments, in limited numbers. It was recently my turn. For the first time in over a year I was able to take my time browsing the graphic novel collections (we have one in the general fiction section and one for teens). To my surprise, the library had acquired several new-to-me  selections. The first one I grade was James Bond in VARGR. I’m a Bond fan and also a fan of spy comics; some of […]



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