Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Zero History

Zero History by William Gibson

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This is the third and final “Blue Ant” novel, which circulates around a few recurring characters like a musician turned brand specialist and a Dutch advertising entrepreneur. In this book, we focus on the world of wildcat clothing design, specifically underground denim design. A mysterious denim designer has been doing guerilla product drops in order to avoid the world of fashion and our business exec Hubertus Bigend puts Hollis (our musician) and a another older character Milgrim on the task of finding the designer. Milgrim […]

Shorts

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Signed, Picpus by Georges Simenon

Vernon Downs by Jamie Clarke

The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright

Horse Crazy by Gary Indiana

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A Moveable Feast  – 4/5 This is kind of a memoir by Hemingway, one that he was working on before he died. It’s not complete, but according to the editorial notes by one of his sons and grandsons, it’s close. This edition undoes some of the more confusing and intrusive decisions from the original publication in the 70s when Mary Hemingway was presiding over the book, which includes her basically writing one of the chapters herself. But the material cut from that edition are presented […]

The Fall of Hyperion

The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

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The second book in the Hyperion Cantos, and the direct sequel to the book Hyperion. From what I can gather the next two books are more spin-offs and far sequels, so my plan is to wait on those a little. We begin in the fallout of the first book, which is mostly told in storytelling and flashback. Hyperion is a mystical planet with a godlike creature on it that if captured, beaten in battle, or wooed can grant a wish. In the first book, several […]

Joe Kurtz and Liebestod

Hardcase by Dan Simmons

Hard Freeze by Dan Simmons

Hard as Nails by Dan Simmons

Lovedeath by Dan Simmons

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Hardcase There’s a tell early in this novel about what exactly we’re dealing with here. It’s neo noir book written by Dan Simmons, who is mostly known for science fiction and horror, but who has dabbled in some other genres. The tell is that a character mentions loving the Richard Stark “Parker” books, but hates the prissy Donald Westlake books. Donald Westlake and Richard Stark are the same person (Donald Westlake), and the Westlake books tend to be light-hearted and funny, while the Stark books […]

The Palladium Wars 2 and 3

Ballistic by Marko Kloos

Citadel by Marko Kloos

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Ballistic – This is the second book in the series and I think I had forgotten almost everything about it as I got started reading. It’s only been two years, but still. It didn’t help that it’s an audiobook with one reader, but four distinct narrative threads. So when one chapter ended, if I happened to miss whose it was, it always took me a second to place myself. Not the book’s fault really, but here we are. Marko Kloos is mostly known for two […]

“Sometimes it seems like writing is the only way I keep from hurting.”

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

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CBR14 Bingo: Verse (the whole book is written as poems) Xiomara and her brother Xavier (who Xiomara mostly refers to as Twin) are miracle babies, born late in life to their parents, who never believed they would have children. Growing up in Harlem, New York, they’re nevertheless part of the Dominican culture of their immigrant parents. Their mother is deeply religious and was possibly going to be a nun before she met their dad, whose wandering eye meant he got around plenty before marrying. While […]



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