Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“In these islands there is no certainty. Bring your own food, your own gods, your own flowers and fruits and concepts. “

Hawaii by James A. Michener

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CBR16 Bingo: Détente – This book is all about all the different peoples and cultures that came to settle the Hawaiian Islands, and ends at the point that they really begin to comfortably and fairly coexist. Hawaii is a beautiful place with a complicated history, having over the course of more than one thousand years been settled by many peoples from many places, all of which have wrestled over its lands and wealth and made their indelible mark. This book is over a thousand pages long […]

“Bourgeois fistula! Bourgeois fistula!” the rest of the dolphins chimed in unison.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

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John Scalzi can usually be relied on to deliver some delightfully silly good fun, and Starter Villain is no exception.  Much in the same vein as one of his other more recent books, The Kaiju Preservation Society, Starter Villain starts with some down in the dumps protagonist whose life is suddenly shaken upside down and they are suddenly swept away to a secret, parallel part of society that we regular schlubs never get to see. A hidden section of society that’s a little fun, a little […]

Some Minds are Better Off Not Read

The Journey by Isobelle Carmody

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What a perfect pick for the ‘And Also…’ bingo  square. I started bingo this year with the ‘Part 1’  because I decided to re-read the Obernewtyn Chronicles, and it really helped me get out of a rut.  Now as part of my re-read, I’ve leant about a very short Obernewtyn prequel story available on Audible and now I guess I have a new ‘Part 1’ to review? The Journey is set before the Great White and it gives us a glimpse of  what the world was […]

Sitcoms opening people’s minds and hearts

Hi Honey, I'm Homo! by Matt Baume

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I like to listen to audiobooks in my car, and I found Hi Honey, I’m Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture (2023) by Matt Baume on NPR’s Favorite Books List. Baume discusses how sitcoms used characters and plots involving gay/trans characters or lightly disguised allegory that may have helped middle America become a little more tolerant than before. Because this book generally goes in chronological order, many of the shows that Baume begins writing about were ones I was not familiar with. These included Soap and All in […]

“Now did you think it all through? All these things will catch up to you…” (Double bingo)

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

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Nowhere Book Bingo: From a genre you’ve never read (true crime) CBR16 Bingo: Fiasco (Theranos was a massive fraud and a fiasco) I’ve owned this book since 2020 and am pretty sure I picked it up in an e-book sale because of the many Cannonball reviews I’ve read about it over the years. Not being particularly interested in the tech world or medical science, and certainly, not someone who reads a lot of business news, I didn’t really hear about this case as it was […]

Cozy Mystery in a Quirky Florida Coffeeshop

Cold Brew Corpse by Tara Lush

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Cold Brew Corpse is the second installment in Tara Lush’s Coffee Lover’s mystery series. (Here is my review of the first, Grounds for Murder.) In these cozy books, former Miami newspaper reporter Lana Lewis lives in her quirky hometown – Devil’s Beach, Florida. Since returning to Devil’s Beach after an unexpected divorce, Lana owns and runs Perkatory, a local coffee shop/family business. She solves mysteries while she’s trying to solve the problem of what to do next in her life.Sometimes, there are coffee puns! While […]



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