Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

If you could rid yourself of memories, would you?

The Binding by Bridget Collins

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Kind of like a nineteenth century version of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Binding is an atmospheric and bittersweet fantasy in which we meet Emmett Farmer. Living in a small village with his family, Emmett’s world is one on which books are taboo. For in this world, books don’t contain mere stories but memories – binders can take your most painful memories and bind them into books, wiping your mind clean of them. When we meet Emmett he’s in recuperation after a mystery […]

High Fantasy Goodness

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

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The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski My rating: 4 of 5 stars Several years ago, I had a student come up to me to ask if I would read one of The Witcher because he had played the games and really liked them and thought I’d like the books. I never got around to reading the books until my state ordered us all to shelter-in-place. I went to my local bookstore to stock up and saw a display of The Witcher series. It’s come back […]

Representing the Women of the Wizarding World

Calling All Witches!: The Girls Who Left Their Mark on the Wizarding World by Laurie Calkhoven

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Calling All Witches!: The Girls Who Left Their Mark on the Wizarding World by Laurie Calkhoven My rating: 5 of 5 stars As it’s women’s history month, I’ve been trying to focus my reading on women authors and female characters. A good friend of mine, who is also a big Potter Head, suggested I give “Calling All Witches!” a read. Based off of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and focused just on the female characters, this book meets both of my criteria. The […]

If You Felt Like Your Harry Potter Knowledge Wasn’t Deep Enough, Here’s all the Spells

The Unofficial Ultimate Harry Potter Spellbook by Media Lab Books

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The Unofficial Ultimate Harry Potter Spellbook: A complete reference guide to every spell in the wizarding world by Media Lab Books My rating: 3 of 5 stars One of the elements of the Harry Potter series is the use of language hidden throughout the books. As a foreign language teacher, I tend to pick up on the use of foreign languages in the books I read. The majority of the spells in Harry Potter are of Latin origin and are most of the time literal […]

Bunnatine, Immy, Demon Lover, and Ghost Boyfriend walk into a bar…

Get In Trouble by Kelly Link

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Well, sometimes it’s a bar filled with men raised by wolves. Sometimes it’s a space ship. A warehouse full of mysterious sleeping people. A magical house full of “summer people”. A haunted house on a space ship. A lake where a few dozen nudists disappeared in the seventies. The penthouse party at a hotel full of dentists and super heroes. The crumbling remains of a Wizard of Oz theme park. A pocket universe that opened above Florida. Kelly Link writes things that are fantastic and […]

If you want to read a book that makes you sorry you read it, but in a good way, this is for you.

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

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Riot Baby is one of those books that you really cannot talk about. And yet, of course, you must. But if you do, you tell the whole story. It is raw. It is gritty. It is gut wrenching. But if you do not, people will miss out on something…… maybe special; maybe horrible; maybe great; maybe…. I will leave it up to you to decide. As you follow Ella and Kev through South Central, Harlem, Rikers Island and back to Watts, Tochi Onyebuchi will make […]



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