Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search

Who Made Us Monsters? Narrative Psychology and The Female Jewish Gothic

Odessa by Gabrielle Sher

by Leave a Comment

Gabrielle Sher’s Odessa started from her doctoral dissertation titled “Who Made Us Monsters? Narrative Psychology and The Female Jewish Gothic.” I assume it evolved a lot to go from academic writing to horror novel, but I think the question was answered. The book doesn’t explain much. It doesn’t have a historic context note, there are no explanations or translations for the many words that I believe are Yiddish. This works because Sher is very good at giving you enough context to figure. For example, you […]

Painfully Unfunny

Et Tu, Babe by Mark Leyner

by Leave a Comment

This is going to be short and to the point. I HATED Mark Leyner’s Et Tu, Babe. I had a friend a long time ago who loved Leyner and the title of the book cracked me up. Well, the title was the first and last thing to give me even a twitch of amusement. There isn’t really a plot, per se, just strings of absurd situations and painfully unfunny humor. It’s meant to be some kind of absurdist post-modern take on fame and culture, but […]

“I didn’t need any help getting angry, I was great at that on my own.”

Platform Decay by Martha Wells

by 1 Comment

Monthly Keyword 26: Decay Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book is out on May 5th, 2026. Murderbot (who has installed a mental health module now, and keeps doing Emotion checks on itself) is on a rescue mission on a large artificial planet controlled mostly by Barish-Estranza. What starts out as needing to find and escort three people from the hostile territory becomes a lot more complicated when Murderbot is forced to agree to locate […]

“Despite her past experiences with murders, she had not yet learned that the most inescapable force in the world is irony.”

The Rushworth Family Plot: A Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery (#4) by Claudia Gray

by 2 Comments

To condemn the female of the species for frivolity while simultaneously limiting her to frivolity is patently unjust, and yet grievously common. Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney understand each other (and their own hearts) perfectly; it’s a pity their families do not. A series of misunderstandings, misplaced pride, and—indeed—prejudice, never mind that Fitzwilliam Darcy is a judgemental prig, has led their fathers to deem the pair unsuited to wed (but more like the other father unsuited as their child’s in-law. And Darcy is a judgemental […]

“Like the old Shadowhunter motto says, “Shadowhunters: That Evil Demon Stuff Is What We Are Here For.” But in Latin, probably.”

Secrets of Blackthorn Hall: An Illustrated Shadowhunter Novel by Cassandra Clare; ilustrated by Cassandra Jean

by Leave a Comment

When the Blackthorn great-aunt dies, to the surprise of everyone she leaves her house in England to Julian, with the proviso he has five years to fix it up before ownership reverts to the Clave. So off Julian and Emma go to merry old England, to deal with large spiders, piles of dust, gnome contractors, and the ghost that is apparently tethered to the house. Can they solve the mystery and free the ghost, or will they be buried around all the secrets that lurk […]

“The beginning of a novel is like a first date.”

Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

by Leave a Comment

Nowhere Book Bingo 26: Adapted into movie or TV show (on Apple+ now) 19-year-old Margo Millet has an ill-advised affair with her English professor at college and gets pregnant. Against the advice of absolutely everyone, including her mother (a former Hooters waitress), she decides to keep it. Unfortunately, being pregnant and then a young single mother isn’t especially attractive on the job market, and before she knows it, two of her roommates have also moved out, because they just can’t handle the noise and the […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo