Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

immediately engrossing and rage inducing in the best way

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

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CW: oh boy, galore. Two key ones will be racism of all sorts and violent, on-page sexual assault. I wonder sometimes who these people are, who’ve blithely existed on the planet wielding the fruits of American citizenship without anything more than an eighth grade hormone-filled trip to D.C.’s worth of awareness of the sins of their forefathers. Your visit to Maya Lin’s monument should be a step along the journey, not the end of it. Which is humbly to say, from my priviledged seat, Nguyen’s […]

You Had Me at Braineater

Braineater Jones by Stephen Kozeniewski

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Braineater Jones (as he calls himself), has a problem. He woke up dead in a swimming pool and he has no idea who he was before he was undead. He also doesn’t know why he’s undead and why there are a whole bunch of undead people around these days…these are just some of the many mysteries that our self-described private dick has to tackle. Taking place in the 1930’s this is a fun little play on a noir novel as Jones deals with the “dames”, […]

Love, Death, Murder, Justice

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

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CBR15Passport Book I own Everybody loves this book, the first in a series, and I am no different. Richard Osman is always entertaining whenever he appears on British TV shows like Taskmaster or Would I Lie To You, and his wit, intelligence and humor are evident throughout this delightful murder mystery set in a bucolic retirement community. The  murders and sleuthing are expertly written and the characters are completely charming. Especially impressive though is Osman’s portrayal of love amongst senior citizens trying to keep meaning […]

Maybe Too Soon

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths

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Continuing my read of Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway series with The Locked Room, the most recent book, published in 2022.  It starts early in 2020 (we all know what’s about to happen) with life continuing as normal along the marshes of Norfolk, and Ruth making a trip to London to clear out some of her deceased mother’s belongings.  Among them, she finds a picture of her house taken several years before she was born and with the cryptic notation ‘Dawn, 1963’ on the back in […]

Moriarty back on form

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

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Stan and Joy Delaney have been married for fifty years. They met in their youth playing tennis, and brought their love of the sport into their family and business, coaching their four children alongside paying customers. All the kids were talented, but none of them made it. Stan’s one close call with coaching greatness crashed and burned when the prodigy dumped him for another coach. The family has its ups and downs, but they’re happy right? One night a young woman knocks at Stan and […]

Mercedes Lackey (1)

Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey

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” A gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the tree, but the young girl seated beneath it did not seem to notice.” I bought a series of Mercedes Lackey Valdemar books from Audible on sale a little while ago, and to my horror I realized that while I could have started off with them, they’re kind of prequels in a way, and I wasn’t sure how much world-building and context I might miss. This series starts off the whole thing, and luckily was available from […]



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