Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Taking a Trip Down Memory Lane

The Stopping Place by Marden Dahlstedt

by 4 Comments

How many books have you hung on to since childhood? As the daughter of a librarian, my answer is, “not many.” I did hang on to my Scholastic Book Club copy of Marden Dahlstedt’s The Stopping Place, from fifth grade though. I recently came across my slim paperback story of a girl from Brooklyn forced to move to New Jersey’s Pine Barrens when her hippie family relocates. (The horror!) I saved a few books from my childhood, but most of my favorites came from the library. I still […]

The Past Continues to be a Foe in the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, Jim Dale narrator

by 5 Comments

*Note: This review was completed in 2017 before the author’s views towards our trans siblings began to be widely known.  My reading experience was what it was and these reviews will remain up, but it should be noted that I find her TERF values abhorrent, which have only become more clear over time, and her doubling down in Summer 2020 has made the decision to walk away from her as a creative force the only acceptable choice for me. I will no longer be supporting […]

Harry Potter and Back to the Future II

by Leave a Comment

This is kind of a bummer in general. I hadn’t planned on reading this, and even thought about reading it one day at Barnes and Noble and just sort of decided not to. Then, they had it available on Overdrive when I was sort of looking for something to take up some dinnertime reading. And now I have read it. It’s like a what-if comic book or one of the evil ream episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It’s not only not very good; […]

Daniel Handler is no Tim Curry, but it’s actually ok.

by Leave a Comment

I wanted to outpace our watching of the Netflix show at my house, but we lost a little steam after the first two episodes. I liked them just fine and it’s a little disappointing in general, but good enough to keep going. So here’s the next two books (after I reviewed The Reptile Room awhile back). I listened to these two books while I did morning chores and then went on a long walk around town. I am on Spring Break and in order to […]

Calvin might have a potato, but I have a broccoli.

by 1 Comment

I read the first two of these books when I was a kid about 1000 times each. I think Sideways Stories from Wayside School was like 1000 times, and maybe Wayside School is falling down is more like 900 times, if I am being accurate. Indeed, I bought both of these from the Scholastic book fair, with the weird onion skin newsprint foldable pamphlet. It was great. I swear to goodness I read these so many times. So: Sideways Stories from Wayside School: 30 stories […]

The way audiobooks should be

by 1 Comment

This is an awesome audiobook production!  Tamora Pierce, the author, reads the narration, but all of the characters have different actors who voice them.  And they do an awesome job!  (Honestly, Tamora Pierce sounds a little stodgy, like she’s reading to a child, and you can tell she’s very deliberate with her words and annunciation.  But hey, she’s not a voice actor, and it creates a noticeable difference between the narration and the actors. And you get used to it!) (In listening to the interview at […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo