Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Together we can be worth more than the sum of our parts

Grown Women by Sarai Johnson

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Sarai Johnson teaches writing and literature courses at Howard and American Universities in the DC Area, and apparently wrote Grown Women, her first novel, in her free time. In my free time I do things like sleep, or sit around and do nothing, or make lists of things I should be doing. Okay okay, I also read the product of other people’s free time. Which bring us full circle to Grown Women, a novel about four generations of women, with the story beginning in 1974 […]

Every time we hear a song, it’s both old and brand-new. That’s the point of music.

Back in the Day by Katrina Jackson

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I love Katrina Jackson’s writing, and her 2021 novella, Back in the Day, is one of my favorite pieces of writing in any genre. I finally bought the audiobook version narrated by Jakobi Diem. His narration is perfect, and he found new ways for this book to make me cry. I really didn’t think I could fall more in love with Jackson’s writing, but the richness Diem brought to her words proved me wrong. I am literally crying right now just thinking about the way he […]

A most dangerous game

Under The Dome by Stephen King

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The thing about chess is, all the action happens on the board. There’s nowhere to hide. No extra $100 bill of Monopoly money stashed under the table. Every piece is in plain sight, every move accounted for. You might not always understand the consequences in the moment—but the game is visible. Transparent. Brutal. That same dynamic sits at the heart of Under the Dome. Then the dome falls, and the game begins. In Chester’s Mill, the players are already in place. Big Jim Rennie—second selectman, […]

Nat Cassidy is one of the best horror writers working today.

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. In an attempt to catch up on my life—which was laughably behind even before I had surgery to get my gallbladder out two weeks ago—I am now reviewing one of my favorite books of the year so far. Reviewing favorite books is something I hate doing, but I foolishly accepted an ARC so now I have to anyway. I should have known this would happen, because I have […]

Life is always happening and has happened and will happen

Question 7 by Richard Flanagan

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One of Chekhov’s earliest stories was a parody of mental arithmetic questions asked of schoolchildren, of which Chekhov’s question 7 is typical: Wednesday, June 17, 1881, a train had to leave station A at 3am in order to reach station B at 11pm; just as the train was about to depart, however, an order came that the train had to reach station B by 7pm. Who loves longer, a man or a woman? Who? You, me, a Hiroshima resident or a slave labourer? And why […]

Great Reporting, But Not My Favorite

Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus

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Best for: People interested in the history of hot dogs in the US, told through a sort of travelogue / memoir hybrid. In a nutshell: Author Loftus travels the US to taste all manner of hot dogs, while sharing the stories and history of those who sell them. Worth quoting: N/A Why I chose it: I adore Loftus’s podcast ‘Sixteenth Minute.’ Review: I wish I liked this book more than I did. I only became aware of Loftus’s work this year, when her podcast ‘Sixteenth […]



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