Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Featured Review Archive

These reviews, which were promoted in CBR social media, on our homepage, and in Pajiba Love, appear below by review publication date, not by date featured.

 

Subverting fairy tale tropes… and llamas!

Cursed Princess Club vol 1 by LambCat

by 2 Comments

I’ve become a huge fan of webtoons/tapas/etc lately. So when I saw the amusing cover art, I couldn’t resist picking this up and I’m so glad I did. This is a silly and sweet graphic novel that gleefully subverts the usual fairy tale tropes. Gwen is the youngest daughter of the King of the Pastel Kingdom. Rather than a room full of cute forest animals or an enchanted garden like her older sisters, Gwen attracts a possum who keeps biting her head. She’s kind and […]

The Liminal Zone

The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito

by Leave a Comment

The first Junji Ito collection I read was the only collection my library had, at the time: Fragments of Horror. It definitely had enough of the style to turn me into a fan, but it also had some absolutely bizarre stuff that didn’t translate across cultures well, such as the story about a reclusive writer with a lot of “habits” that turned out to be bizarre social quirks, which to my ignorant eye may have been of more significance in the social conservatism of Japan. […]

Be the funny

Be the Bus: The Lost & Profound Wisdom of the Pigeon. by Mo Willems

by 4 Comments

Have you found the word of The Pigeon? Have you taken The Pigeon into your soul and heart? And I do not mean just any ol’ pigeon, but the pigeon of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! If not, you need this handy-dandy little gem called Be the Bus: The Lost & Profound Wisdom of the Pigeon. Mo Willems is at his best when we get sage advice such as Let me be the first to say that everything has already been said. Or […]

The sequel is never as good as the original

The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex by Charles Darwin

by 4 Comments

Back in 2020, I finished out the year by reviewing On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Since then, I’ve been trying to motivate myself to work my way through Darwin’s follow up: The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. Knowing that the ideas in Descent of Man were controversial, Darwin held off publishing until 12 years after Origin of Species. His thoughts on natural selection being well received, however, he felt comfortable proceeding to the next step, namely, “. […]

It’s Not All In My Head

Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis by Ada Calhoun

by 6 Comments

Best for: Women at the start of their midlife. In a nutshell: Author Calhoun explores the unique challenges that Gen X women are facing as they enter and continue through midlife. Worth quoting: “But Gen Xers entered life with ‘having it all’ not as a bright new option but as a mandatory social condition.” “The last think we need at this stage of life is self-help…What we need at this stage isn’t more advice, but solace.” Why I chose it: Well, by most accounts I […]

Not your mama’s Wizard of Oz

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die book #1) by Danielle Paige

by 2 Comments

“[My mother] told me that, whatever anyone at school said, a trailer was where I lived, not who I was. She told me that it was the best home in the world because it could go anywhere.” And what better place to go than the colorful, magical land of Oz? But we learn quickly that this ain’t your mama’s Oz. Dorothy Must Die is the first of a series of novellas about Amy, from…(I’ll give you one guess). She’s in high school with a mother […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo