Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

TikTok made me do it

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

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I follow a local bookseller on TikTok who gained a following on BookTok for her shortlist of two things she looks for in a book – it’s gay and it slaps. I’m jealous because she’s used this more than once to advertise that she’s a lucky duck with an ARC of Casey McQuiston’s upcoming One Last Stop but also her recommendations broadly are amazing. I’ve read easily more than half of them and she’s not wrong, they are gay and they do slap. Girls of Paper and […]

Practicing What You Preach

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

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Okay, I said I was only doing writing non-fiction for Cannonball 13, but this epic fantasy is related to learning how to write. I took his 13-hour BYU writing class (on YouTube) and found it very informative. I decided I probably should read one of his books. Turns out Elantris is his first published work, and a good example of his classroom lessons. Elantris is an epic fantasy in every definition of the word. At over 600 pages, it follows the lives of three main […]

“We want somebody to rescue us from other people. From talking to them, I mean, or from the burden of giving a damn about what they say. We don’t want to be polite and stifle our farts, now, do we? We want to let ’em rip and we want to be with someone who won’t care if we do, who will love us regardless and fart right back besides.”

Staked (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #8) by Kevin Hearne

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Can I just stop here? I kind of just want to stop here. This will be the last book in this series! What is book nine? I say this because since it was published, the last book in this series (which I have enjoyed greatly!) hasn’t gotten the greatest reviews from my friends and from others. I spoiled myself a little after reading this one and it honestly does sound awful, what happens. Maybe context would help, but it really doesn’t seem like it. And […]

Fantasy newbie thinks the 2nd LOTR is great

The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings #2) by J.R.R. Tolkien

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I am late to the game when it comes to fantasy epics. I have read and reread Harry Potter more times than I can count, but anything more hardcore than that has historically failed to grasp my attention (looking at you, Game of Thrones). I am so very happy that I decided to embark on my own hobbit-sized journey to read Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, because it has paid off handsomely. The second part of Tolkien’s trilogy follows the Fellowship after their […]

Swim, fly, hop or grab a squirrel, but give this book a try

Wild Fairies V02 Lily’s Water Woes by Brandi Dougherty

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I was looking through some older reader copies the other day and came across Lily’s Water Woes by Brandi Dougherty. Unknown to me, it was volume 2 in the Wild Fairies series. I thought it was odd a few pages in when a few things were mentioned (about a festival, decorating a tree) and thought, “Maybe this is a second book.” And when I started to investigate, I did notice the big number two on the cover (oops!) However, even though it is part of […]

Make sure you know what the ingredients in your bread are

Calamity Jack by Shannon Hale

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While still fun, Calamity Jack, the sequel to Rapunzel’s Revenge is not as strong as the first graphic novel. Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and Nathan Hale this time show the world of Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk fame. We see (in a quick flashback) how the goose came into Jack’s possession; why the magic beans were important (no cow in sight) and that we should watch out for Mother’s who know how to back some crazy bread. Then we jump forward to “now” where […]



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