Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About wicherwill

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She/her. Longtime lurker, goodreads addict :D (Learn more about this Cannonballer: wicherwill's Quick Questions interview.)

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immediately engrossing and rage inducing in the best way

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

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CW: oh boy, galore. Two key ones will be racism of all sorts and violent, on-page sexual assault. I wonder sometimes who these people are, who’ve blithely existed on the planet wielding the fruits of American citizenship without anything more than an eighth grade hormone-filled trip to D.C.’s worth of awareness of the sins of their forefathers. Your visit to Maya Lin’s monument should be a step along the journey, not the end of it. Which is humbly to say, from my priviledged seat, Nguyen’s […]

less engrossing second outing

Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake

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Much like Britt, I think I found this book serviceable but not memorable. Which is a pity, because I think unlike many other “universe” type books, Blake does a good job in interlacing her prior characters into the background of her next novel–Delilah Green and Claire (and Ruby!) are solid secondary characters in the tale of Astrid, who Delilah continues to call Ass. But now it’s done fondly, one would hope. So, Astrid. She’s a Boss Lady in a Tiny Town, basically the first half […]

back in the spider saddle again~

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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I am really digging these books and how they expand the universe Tchaikovsky has created one step at a time, but realistically. Look not at how long it took me to read this (that’s a function of work, not desire). Perhaps do read this one soon after reading the prior book–I can see how you’d benefit from remembering some of the details from the prior, or how not remembering the prior book would make this one less rich. There’s the same sort of beats–similar to […]

unfortunately not as enjoyable for me as the prior outings

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

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Authors should definitely, absolutely be able to change up their MO. No one expects that they’re automatons, churning out crowd pleasers–in fact, there are a few authors who have made explicit that the pressure of pleasing fans sapped the joy of writing, thereby leading to even less author-ing. That all aside, I find myself somewhat disappointed by this latest foray into Kate Quinnland, as I know it from The Alice Network and The Rose Code, the latter of which I enjoyed quite a bit. As always, there is […]

it’s so very fun to read a book that is set in a place you know :)

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

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CW: racism, police violence, minor character death (not by cop) Oddly enough, this book kept bringing to mind the movie “500 Days of Summer,” not that I’ve seen it more than the once when it first came out. Something about two people dancing around one another and getting in their own ways? Even though, to be clear, the message of the film is clearly that Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character brings his misery upon himself since he asks what Summer wants and then gets sad when she […]

so far off from what I usually read, and yet it’s the first book of 2023

The Pale King by David Foster Wallace

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CW: there’s some off color ism language throughout that the modern day reader is likely to be mildly offended by–as you’ll see below, perhaps reading that helped me in some sense to not go into a spiral of re-evaluation If you, like me, are immediately put off by books that categorically fail the Bechdel test I do suggest you continue, including past the passage where two unnamed male characters talk about their onanism fantasies. This book, for all its glaring “THIS IS NOT FOR YOU”-ness, […]



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