Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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(Learn more about this Cannonballer: Travis_J_Smith's Quick Questions interview.)

Travis_J_Smith's Reviews:

This was my missing diamond…

Mouston Abbey: The Missing Diamond by Nick Page & Joanna Bicknell

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The third and final Goodwill find is Mouseton Abbey: The Missing Diamond. First, let me confess that I’ve never watched Downton Abbey, so the relation to it had nothing to do with why I picked this book up. What caught my eye were the adorable crocheted (?) mice that are our characters. Once I opened the book, I saw they were complimented by equally adorable rough-hewn illustrated backgrounds and charming writing. I can’t speak to whether anything’s a reference to the show or not, but […]

If only it were so simple…

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

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The second of my Goodwill finds is The Lorax, a book I’ve wavered on buying from Target for some time now. Back in elementary school, we went somewhere for a Dr. Seuss day celebration and I got this pocket-sized copy of The Lorax, possibly my favorite of his books. In the years since, I’ve lost that copy and have not been able to find a similarly-sized copy. I’m starting to think I made up the whole story. But I knew I wasn’t spending full-retail, which […]

Now I see why it was at Goodwill…

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

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The first of three finds in the literal bin full of books at the Goodwill we went to yesterday looking for teacups for my fiancee’s bridal shower. Having always loved Where the Wild Things Are, both the book and the movie, I picked this up based almost entirely upon the Sendak name. That and the illustrations, which were apparently influenced by the Little Nemo comics, per Sendak himself. Had I flipped through the book more while I was still at the Goodwill, I would’ve seen why […]

Must everybody fail this poor kid?

Colin Fischer by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz

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Another in the list of books I looked into simply in the hopes of finding decent autistic representation. What I got was… passable, I guess? Colin Fischer tells the story of a high-school kid on the autism spectrum (specifically, he’s diagnosed with the now-outdated “Asperger’s syndrome”) who goes to a regular high school with zero accommodations made for him and is relentlessly bullied by both his peers and his own younger brother (in a cruel twist of fate, given how instantly excited and in love […]

Heartstopper indeed

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

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Like nearly everyone with Netflix, I watched Heartstopper, the hype surrounding it on Twitter inescapable. For a while, I’d written it off; however, it reached a critical mass after a while and I had to at least give it a trial run. That trial run turned into a full-season marathon and many unsuccessful attempts to stage a rewatch with my fiancee joining me this time. Naturally then, a read through of the books that started it all was bound to follow at some point. Starting with […]

“She’s not a Pisces!” says my fiancee

The Pisces by Melissa Broder

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Where to begin? I guess I’ll simply come out and say it: this is, without any doubt in my mind, one of the worst books I have ever read. We’re talking to the point that even one star is too gracious, which is why I have decided to leave this review as “unrated.” In other words, I give this book literally zero stars and wish I could simply ctrl+z the memory of it from my brain, because I spent all last night after finishing it finding […]



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