Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

One Woman’s Experience of Religious Trauma

A Well-Trained Wife by Tia Levings

by Leave a Comment

Rating: 4 Stars In a nutshell: Tia Levings is raised very conservatively Christian, and ends up in a marriage governed by Christian dominionism and a controlling, abusive husband. Best for: Anyone interested into some insight into this type of religious control, from how it is ingrained in youth to how it controls the lives of women and children as they age. Quote that made me think: So much of this book had me shouting into the void, but the fact that her husband forced her […]

The Audiobook Was Better

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

by 1 Comment

Back before the hype blew up around The Correspondent, I tried to read it in print and had to quit after a few pages: the pacing was too slow for me and the MC wasn’t interesting enough to follow along with. After it became popular, reading it became a professional obligation, I decided to try the audiobook. This is my favorite strategy for books that aren’t wowing me in print, but that Must Be Read for whatever reason. It worked.  What seemed dreary and tedious on […]

George Michael crossed with Eddie Vedder crossed with Beetlejuice.

Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle

by 5 Comments

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. If I had to rank all of Chuck Tingle’s novels, the order would be for me, from best to least best*: Bury Your Gays, Lucky Day, Camp Damascus, then Fabulous Bodies. (I have not read his novella Straight as of yet.) And all of those books are 4, 4.5, or 5 stars. So he’s really just killing it. I’m only giving this one four stars because I know he can go deeper, […]

Some forms of entertainment work better for me than others

Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About by Isabel Klee

by 1 Comment

I stumbled on Isabel Klee on one of my Instagram-reeling marathons (@Simonsits). She seemed like a nice, young woman who fosters dogs and documents their stories on Instagram. She lives in Brooklyn, which I recognized from my visits to my brother and enjoyed seeing again. I’ve liked her Instagram stories for awhile now. The publicity she brings to her rescue dogs and the rescue organizations she works with bring in a fair bit of money and many potential adopters. Every time she works with partners […]

The Charms of a Competent Man

Lord Ravenscar's Revenge by Barbara Cartland

by Leave a Comment

After Romara is beaten and thrown out of the house by her sister’s abusive lover, the last thing she expects is to wake up married to Lord Ravenscar, who wed her while extremely drunk. But when he steps in to help her solve Caryl’s problems, she starts to wonder if they will be able to make a real marriage work. I read a lot of historical romance, so of course I am familiar with the insanely prolific Barbara Cartland, though I haven’t read any of […]

Harry Potter and the Failure of Risk Management

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J K Rowling

by 1 Comment

I have been working through the Harry Potter series via audiobook with my now nine-year-old son as he ages alongside the books. It’s been a really gratifying experience as a Harry Potter fan, although I do take this moment, particularly during Pride Month, to acknowledge the abhorrent and hurtful, completely inexcusable views of the author who shall not be named. I have been listening to the Stephen Fry version of these audiobooks, and next time we’ll be pivoting to the recently released full-cast version. I’m […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo