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.

 

“Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name…”

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

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3.5 stars Nowhere Books Bingo: Banned books (Wasn’t published until 27 years after Bulgakov’s death, and only then in a censored version. ) CBR16 Bingo: Cult (cult classic, and there’s the whole Devil and his entourage as a central plot point – that’s pretty cultish, right?) I can’t remember exactly how long The Master and Margarita has been on my TBR list, but it’s certainly more than twenty years. A quick glance on Goodreads shows me that 15 of my friends have rated it four […]

“What would happen if we spoke the truth?”

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic had been on my to read for a bit as one of the more visible challenged and banned books since its publication in 2006  (31st most challenged  in the decade 2010-2019 according to the ALA) that I hadn’t gotten to yet, but moved higher up as it was challenged locally to me twice since 2020 (it’s been retained both times). So, it found its way to my September reading as my personal choice for Banned Books Week 2024.   As […]

Censorship sucks!

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

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I saw a TikTok where the author of a book had stitched a meeting of a local school board. They were proposing to ban the book because of foul language and depictions of drug abuse. This is a YA autobiographical graphic novel of the author’s life through the end of high school. The author is also the illustrator. It starts with depictions of him as a child having nightmares; seeing his mother with several men; and, spending his night on the floor outside her room. […]

Angels and Demons and Shifters, OH MY!

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

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I know it’s cool to hate on Sarah J. Maas books, but I am a huge fan of her work. Are they high literature? No, but A Court of Thorns and Roses got me back into reading after too long of an absence. A Court of Silver Flames helped get me out of bed after 6 pets died in 6 months and I was in a depressive fugue. She does character development like nobody else, and her books are unputdownable. Book 1: House of Earth […]

Returning to Old Friends and Meeting New Ones

The Fragile Threads of Power by V. E. Schwab

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This felt more like the 4th book in the Shades of Magic trilogy than the start of a new series, which is not a complaint. We are given the opportunity to revisit the lives of Kell, Lila, Rhy, and Alucard. The novel is set 7 years after the first trilogy, and Schwab uses flashbacks to fill readers in on what these characters have been doing, which takes up a large chunk of the book. They have evolved in various ways, and I particularly enjoyed seeing […]

She looked as good as air conditioning.

Give it to Me! by Angelina M. Lopez

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In Give it to Me: Sexy Tales About Women Getting the Good Loving, Lopez gives us a collection that shows her range as a story teller. From the jet-setting billionaire and her wine making prince to a woman who has gone back to school looking for some precious alone time in the library stacks, Lopez is writing about women getting what they want. The first and last stories, “The Phone Call” and “Star 69,” are a part one and part two. “The Phone Call” is […]



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