Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien

The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien

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CBR12 Bingo: Yellow When I was a kid my dad read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy to me. I’d already read The Hobbit, and of course as a kid I preferred the simplicity and accessibility of that book, but I can still remember the moment that my dad and I finished reading The Two Towers: “Frodo was alive but taken by the Enemy.” Whew. Eat your heart out, The Empire Strikes Back–that is a killer ending to a Part II of a trilogy. […]

Being a superhero can cause super problems in a relationship

Super Adjacent by Crystal Cestari

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While this is a fun YA book about superheroes and the people who date them, it also brings up some relevant points about obsessions with celebrities. Switch out the superheroes with movie stars or singers and some of the issues that come up in this book can easily be seen in today’s society.   Claire is a fangirl, no doubt about it.  (She has good reason to be, up to a certain point.)  She follows the Chicago branch of the Warrior Nation superhero team obsessively […]

Every time I read the title of this book, I read it to the tune of “Helpless” from Hamilton

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

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This is a story of Wonderland before it became the broken thing that Alice encounters in the book.  Residents are more or less happy and good natured.  They don’t stay that way, however.  Wonderland is a world of cards, and there are many fun and innocent games you can play with cards.  But there’s another land through the Looking Glass, the land of Chess.  And Chess is a battlefield.  Some things from Chess have come to Wonderland, and they will never be the same.   […]

The dangers of not doing research before traveling abroad

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

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I can’t even with these boys. These BOYS!  They can’t seem to use their words with each other.  Baz can be smooth as hell when he wants to, but he and Simon have a verbal block between them, and I can’t even.  I want to smack them both upside the head, or give them a truth serum or something.  They need to talk about their FEELINGS and they just WON’T!   Anyway, we’re in America now, and on a road trip!  Simon, Penny, and Baz […]

The cover makes the book look more exciting than it is

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

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I know that Ursula K. Le Guin is a big name in influential fantasy authors, especially for children’s and YA.  And I’d never read anything by her, so I figured that I should.  A Wizard of Earthsea is the classic hero’s journey with wizards and magic and dragons and all sorts of other stuff.  What more could you ask for?   Apparently a lot.  I was bored!  Partly due to the story, and partly because of the language. It felt stuffy.  I think she was […]

How to best lure people into my favorite author…

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes, read by Kirby Heyborne

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When I saw the “Gateway” square for Bingo, I thought for a bit on the best way to introduce people to the wonder that is Drew Hayes.  I mean, Super Powereds is a long haul, and it takes commitment.  I’ve told some colleagues to start with the Fred series, as the audiobook is on the shorter side (a little over 7 hours) and is structured in smaller chunks.  It also kind of eases you into the weird.  (Also, Kirby Heybourne is also a fantastic audiobook […]



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