Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Gore Surprised Me, but It Shouldn’t Have

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

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The original “Twelve Dancing Princesses” fairy tale is surprisingly un-gory. Silly me, I thought a modern retelling would be the same. Not so much! If you’re not familiar with the original fairy tale, it goes something like this: there are twelve sisters (princesses, natch) who, every night, sneak out of their castle and dance all night at an enchanted ball. Their dad, the king, wants to know where they go every night so he sends out the call that anyone who can figure out their […]

When the word story is better than the graphic version

The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life, Vol. 2 (manga) by Guru Mizoguchi, Usata Nonhara, Ox

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I have decided that I like the light novelization of this story better, and this is unusual for me. Usually I run into the manga or anime first, then check out the light novels which tend to seem repetitive by comparison even if they actually came first. This is a warning that this will be as much exploration of why that is as it will be review. So, The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life has, besides a long unwieldly title, […]

Science Lesson Via Storytelling

Cells at Work! Vol. 5 by Akane Shmizu

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It seems like Cells at Work! 5 was a surprise as in it was surprising that this was the apparently last entries in the original series; I had seen the pre-order for a vol. 6 that apparently got canceled for vague reasons. There does appear to be a spin off though, so the series isn’t exactly over. I don’t know what happened there, but vol. 5 does kind of seem like someone may have gotten a little tired or distracted by another project because it […]

She puts the Wonder in Woman

Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed by Laurie Halse Anderson

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I like superheroes. Which some find funny as I am a villain girl. How I love me a good, ol’ baddie! However, when you have an interesting or relatable hero, I tend to find them more to my tastes (but it does not hurt that Adam West was funny and I would not mind saluting Captain American). Okay, I mixed my DC and Marvel there, but this book, Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed, is a new DC adaptation due in June of this year. Laurie Halse […]

Circe: Not the One from Game of Thrones

Circe by Madeline Miller

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Circe by Madeline Miller My rating: 5 of 5 stars If you’ve read The Odyssey before you may remember that Circe’s island is where Odysseus’ crew is turned into pigs but using his charm, Odysseus is able to undo the charm and ultimately gain aid from Circe. In the abridged version I teach in my freshman English class, Circe’s island is one of the few events that survived the abridging process. Circe, the book, provides a complete picture of who the character is from birth […]

What if the Chosen One is flawed? What do you do after you’ve defeated the Big Bad?

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

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Reading Fangirl brought me such joy that I immediately ordered Carry On and Wayward Son to be able to continue Simon and Baz’s adventures. In the review I wrote, “Waiting for Carry On has me checking the front porch every time the dog barks at the front door.”  Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait much longer and they showed up in the next day or so.  Since then I’ve blitzed through both books, reading them back to back and and finishing them in a matter of days, […]



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