Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A cozy, low stakes fantasy about an orc opening the coffee shop of her dreams

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

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I don’t recall when I started seeing ads for Legends and Lattes online but they immediately grabbed my attention with the adorable picture of two female baristas, an orc and succubus, on the cover.  Then, my favorite bookshop fell head over heels for it and I knew I had to read this book.  Our family does a Winter Solstice book exchange and one of my daughters gifted me Legends and Lattes.  It took restraint to finish New City, Who Dis? before starting it. The book advertises itself […]

A decent final book that is saved by its ending

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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Avery Kylie Grambs is coming up on the end of one year of living in Hawthorne House. Soon, one of the largest fortunes in the world (billions and billions of dollars) will be Avery’s. She has satisfied every stipulation in the will set out by Tobias Hawthorne, solved the many puzzles and riddles that he left, and established herself as part of the family along with her older sister. Things are going alright. Until someone shows up claiming to be the daughter of Tobias’ estranged […]

A solid expansion and exploration in The Stillness

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

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Jemisin continues to play with POV and split narration in The Obelisk Gate. In this novel which picks up immediately after the events of The Fifth Season, we primarily focus on Essun at Castrima and her daughter Nassun who is travelling with her father. Essun is still at Castrima while Nassun makes her way to a sanctuary for young orogenes led by Schaffa, the Guardian. There is a deeper exploration of magic in The Obelisk Gate which was very fun. What I find to be especially wonderful […]

“Imagine if all men took women seriously.”

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

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Enjoyed every bit of this. I’m at that time of year when I’m SO many reviews behind, and I’m reading a lot of good books that I just don’t feel like articulating about (I’m about to Review Amnesty a crap ton of books), but this book was such a good read for me, I do want to say a little something about it. No idea what that something is about to be; stream of consciousness is always a surprising and fun way to write reviews. […]

haunted house of late stage capitalism is correct

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

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Perhaps this isn’t a genuine five star book but I enjoyed myself so much while reading it that I’ve decided to throw a bit of caution to the wind and award it said coveted rating. Maybe I’ll revisit later on and have second thoughts, but as another reviewer noted this book is compulsively readable. Do you work in an office? Do you use Slack, or some other “more accessible” type of messaging platform meant to serve as a de-escalation from email which nonetheless has turned […]

YMMV but I get a lot of these novels

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

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Rooney has basically figured out the Adam Sandler of book gigs. This is a reference to how Adam Sandler seems to always make these movies where it is imperative that his character be in a tropical paradise, with a cast that includes his friends, in a time of year that’s convenient in terms of weather etc. Over three books, one cannot help but notice how the main characters of her novels (disaffected, slightly over educated Irish literary/liberal arts types who could be described as “permanent […]



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