Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Woman in Sport

The Race to Be Myself by Caster Semenya

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Best for: Anyone who ACTUALLY cares about women, or women in sports, or racism, or equity. Also JK Rowling should read this as maybe she’d learn a thing or two (though I’d love to keep Semenya off Rowling’s radar, since Rowling is generally horrible when it comes to women’s issues). In a nutshell: Olympic runner Semenya shares her story, from growing up in South Africa to becoming one of the fastest women in the world, to facing the racism and misogyny of the sporting world. […]

Slayer Shenanigans

Slayers: A Buffyverse Story by Amber Benson and Christopher Golden

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Slayers is an 8 hour story, written by Amber Benson and Christopher Golden, that brings back many of the original actors to reprise their roles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (AKA my favourite TV series, ever). But I’m going to try to be objective in this review, and not just spend 250 words squealing about James Marsters amazing return to Spike and how fun it was to hear these old friends again. Going into this audiobook, I stupidly assumed that this would be a typical […]

And now a hit Netflix show

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

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My book club chose to read The Duke and I (2000) by Julia Quinn. I wasn’t super excited about this pick because I was pretty familiar with the storyline. I’d already watched the first season of Bridgerton, which was based on The Duke and I. I was also pretty sure I’d previously read the book, but I couldn’t remember when. If I have read it, it was before Cannonball Read started because I couldn’t find a review of it. Anyway, because of the familiar territory, I decided to listen to this […]

The Power of a Beautiful Woman Against a Kingdom

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

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Before starting A Song to Drown Rivers, I wasn’t familiar with the Four Great Beauties of China beyond a vague recollection of the phrase. As I started, I did a quick google of Xishi and her story, which has two possible endings – one where the king she served has her assassinated for fear the skills she used to topple the Wu kingdom may be turned on him, and another where she and Fanli are able to live out in freedom and happiness. The execution […]

“This is the story of how a Baggins had an adventure.” CBRBINGO – Rings

The Hobbit: Or, There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien

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As I’ve written about The Hobbit before, and because other people definitely have as well, and much better than I have, this review will be mostly about the new audiobook productions of Tolkien’s works, which are narrated by Andy Serkis, of Gollum fame. So far I have only listened to this lovely production of The Hobbit, but I have the full trilogy and The Silmarillion also ready to go for whenever I am feeling like a re-read. And chances are, now that I know how […]

“I am covered in the excrement of several looted American animals”

In Which Winnie Halifax is Utterly Ruined by Alexandra Vasti

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The last in the Halifax Hellions series. Plot: Winnie’s mother was a con woman who through various means was able to finance her life and the life of her daughter by stealing shit from the aristocracy. This never sat well with Winnie, so when she was 20, she broke off to set her own course. Being an impoverished commoner though, she did need to use a little of her mother’s ill gotten gains, and being a single woman trying to start a business in regency […]



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