Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


I’m totally the demographic for this, and yet…

How to Be Successful without Hurting Men's Feelings: Non-threatening Leadership Strategies for Women by Sarah Cooper

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“Comedian, star of the Netflix special Everything’s Fine, and Trump lip-syncing sensation Sarah Cooper illustrates how women can achieve their dreams, succeed in their careers, and become leaders, all without harming the fragile male ego.” Basically, this is a tongue-in-cheek “advice” book that tells women to be quiet, put up with the patriarchy, and hide any kind of competency in order to accommodate inferior men. The advice is purposefully over the top, and ridiculous, but unfortunately still pretty relevant today. Chapters like, “Authenticity – How to […]

“‘Why would anyone love a monster?’ asked Perseus. ‘Who are you to decide who is worthy of love?’ said Hermes. ‘I mean, I wasn’t…’ ‘And who are you to decide who is a monster?’”

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

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I knew I was going to like this, but I didn’t quite expect to like it as much as I did. Sometime in the near future, we’re going to hit the saturation point for Greek mythology retellings in the literary marketplace, but it seems we’re at the peak right now, and it can be hard to sort out the copycat clones from the worthwhile without reading them first. Stone Blind is one of the worthwhile. It’s not enough to just retell a myth, even if you are […]

“Even small actions have consequences. And while we can often choose our actions, we rarely get to choose our consequences.”

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

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Backing Brandon Sanderson’s Secret Project Kickstarter is one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. Tress of the Emerald Sea is the first of those four secret novels Sanderson wrote during the pandemic when he wasn’t touring and had some “free time” on his hands. Of course what Brando Sando does on his free time is write more books, because he famously takes a break from writing to recharge by writing something else. The guy is a straight up nerd and I’m so glad […]

“With this book, I wanted to pit a man freed from all responsibilities but his appetites against women whose lives are shaped by their endless responsibilities. I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom. As you’ll see, it’s not a fair fight.”

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

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Despite very recently giving five stars to the latest Grady Hendrix weirdo horror book (review HERE), I was surprised by how much I liked this. As I’ve been exploring the horror genre over the past year, I’ve learned that my tastes usually run towards the lighter end of the horror spectrum, and that I don’t do well with gore and violence just for gore and violence’s sake*. I need that sort of thing to have a purpose, and I need it to not make me […]

Some Unexpected Twists

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

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Best for: Fans of multi-perspective stories and jump back and forth across time. In a nutshell: A baby was found well taken-care of in a sparse mansion. Nearby are three adults dead by suicide. 24 years later, that same baby inherits the mansion and wants to know what happened to her parents all those years ago. Worth quoting: N/A Audio book Why I chose it: I’d seen this in an airport bookstore a few months back, and then it popped up as a recommendation on […]

“The heir and the spare.”

Spare by Prince Harry (Ghostwritten by J.R. Moehlinger)

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I’m definitely not one of those people obsessed with the royals. Their entire existence feels like something of a farce at this point, desperately holding on to a tradition and privilege that doesn’t really make sense anymore. At the same time, they are undeniably famous and lead a fascinating, bonkers life. I don’t follow royal news, so I only vaguely knew what was going on with Megan and Harry. When I heard they left England, I figured they were probably better off. I wasn’t really […]



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