Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Squad Goals High-Fantasy Style

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

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The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien My rating: 4 of 5 stars As much as I’m a fan of LOTR, I’ve only ever read the books twice. This second reread was a much better experience than the first time. For some reason my memory of reading the books was that I had enjoyed them, but was a little bored. This time, the second time, I enjoyed and found myself encountering moments I hadn’t appreciated on the first read. For example, the first time […]

A Great Story Ruined by Some Incel Behavior

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

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Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi My rating: 3 of 5 stars Zélie is a divîner, someone who’s magic hasn’t yet revealed itself. She believes she’ll never become a maji, someone who’s magic has developed, like her mother due to the king’s purging of all the maji in Orïsha and the disappearance. Little does she know that a chance encounter with princess Amari will change that. Once Amari and Zélie make contact, the story sets off on a quest to restore magic and […]

Heroes can be Brainy not Brawny

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

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The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien My rating: 4 of 5 stars Like many people I read “The Hobbit” after seeing and reading “The Lord of the Rings” series. Personally, I don’t think it matters all that much which order you read them in. The tonal shift between the two books makes for an abrupt image anyways. “The Hobbit” introduces readers to Bilbo, the One Ring (although we don’t know it’s that yet), Gollum, Gandalf, Elrond, and the world of Middle […]

Interesting exploration on how we find meaning, iffy delivery

The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino

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This book is told in two parts: The Castle and The Tavern. In both situations, a group of strangers come together around a table and strangely, inexplicably find themselves all mute. They yearn to tell each other their stories, and thankfully someone has a deck of Tarot cards with which each person attempts to choose cards to lay out in various configurations in order to communicate their tale. In the first half, The Castle, things are orderly; people take turns telling their story and they […]

Fern and Otto besties on an adventure

Fern and Otto: A Story about Two Best Friends by Stephanie Graegin

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Fern and Otto: A Story about Two Best Friends is an adorable book about friendship. But it is also about one friend who probably needs some special glasses to see the adventures right in front of him! And, of course, there are adventures aplenty for Fern and Otto. Much of which are more exciting then first look would assume. These two friends go out looking for an adventure that is more exciting than the one Fern is writing about in her book (enjoying themselves, each […]

The final work from Tomi Ungerer

Nonstop by Tomi Ungerer

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When I first saw Nonstop by Tomi Ungerer I figured it was going to be an odd little book. Maybe serious, but nothing too drastic. Maybe even funny in a quirky way. Also, I would not have been surprised if it had been a wordless picture book. It had gotten press, but I was thinking since the art was different and the fact it was Ungerer (not to mention his last picture book) that was the reason it was getting attention. Instead, I was slapped […]



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