Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About matt_thac

CBR14 Participant
CBR18 Participant
CBR18 Levels

White, man, feminist, Muslim, living in a country that's not where he's from, and constantly having to navigate his way in other languages and cultures. Any one and all of these at anytime and less confused that than appears.

matt_thac's Reviews:

Timely Read as the International Order Starts to Shift

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

February 8, 2026 by matt_thac Leave a Comment

When reflecting on my identity, my thoughts often circle the idea of being WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) and how that perspective is, in fact, ‘weird’ to most of the world. This sense of being an ‘other’ permeates the book, alongside the post-modern realization that we can never truly ‘know’ another person. The story is told through an unnamed translator in The Hague, transitioning from New York into a life of clinical, European detachment. Whether she is navigating a relationship with a man […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fiction Tagged With: Katie Kitamura

matt_thac's CBR18 Review No:21 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fiction · Tags: Katie Kitamura ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

The ’90s Called…

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

February 7, 2026 by matt_thac Leave a Comment

  Everything I Never Told You floored me emotionally, reminding me that fiction that resonates with you can grow your empathy while providing support. Little Fires Everywhere is a good book but has made less of an impression on me. Like her first book, this story starts with an in media Res, but it feels less intriguing than previously. It didn’t really feel like it was necessary, the story being enough to draw me in. There are a few themes across this book, with motherhood being the main one, […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Celeste Ng

matt_thac's CBR18 Review No:20 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Celeste Ng ·
· 0 Comments

This is going to be a careful balancing act of a review (and it’s almost definitely going to fail)

Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad

February 1, 2026 by matt_thac Leave a Comment

Going into this book, I wasn’t sure what I was going to get from it. I am a white, middle-class, cis, hetero man from the global North and I’ve definitely f**ked up not recognizing the privilege that one or many of those things has given. I’ll also f**k up again (guaranteed) but hopefully I’ll keep learning. Think about the role my ethnicity has played in my life is something I tend to face most days, and for the last decade or so I’ve reflected a […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: Anti-Racism, Layla Saad, white supremacy

matt_thac's CBR18 Review No:19 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: Anti-Racism, Layla Saad, white supremacy ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

The first person we lie to is always ourselves

Yellow Face by R F Kuang

February 1, 2026 by matt_thac Leave a Comment

I use Storygraph to keep track of my book reading to de-Amazon my life. Reviews work a little differently, and you’re asked “Did you find the characters loveable?” For this book the answer is a big NO. Personally, narratives that engage me with unlikeable characters either end with them getting their karmic payback or learning to be better, if that happens here, we’re not sure. The book is written in the from Juniper’s view, whether she has pragmatic, real-world crash to earth and/or has had […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Chinese-Americans, diversity, R.F. Kuang, Satire, white feminism

matt_thac's CBR18 Review No:18 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Chinese-Americans, diversity, R.F. Kuang, Satire, white feminism ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

This hasn’t helped me decide on the value of prequels

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

January 27, 2026 by matt_thac 1 Comment

I was inspired to read this book following Classic’s review of The Rose Field (scathing though it was). I have appreciated the His Dark Materials trilogy for a while, although I find the criticism of a very Christian normative form of organised religion hits differently from an Islamic perspective. The ideas of a authoritarian church-state read differently from a religious perspective where faith and society are enmeshed alternatively. I’ve not really been tempted to read the prequel books as I always find the liminal space […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: Philip Pullman, prequel

matt_thac's CBR18 Review No:17 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: Philip Pullman, prequel ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

The Sins of Parenting Weigh Heaviest in Everyone ?

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

January 26, 2026 by matt_thac Leave a Comment

I spend a lot of time reflecting in my parenting, a little too much according to my therapist. But as my eldest daughter gently slams into her teenage years, I’m conscious of how my words and actions can impact them. My younger daughter being more emotionally honest and more easily vulnerable with me, while I have to be patient and emotionally open myself to give my eldest her space. Giving emotional space to them and having that honesty and openness with myself has taken time […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: A death in the family, Celeste Ng, grief, loss

matt_thac's CBR18 Review No:16 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: A death in the family, Celeste Ng, grief, loss ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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