Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Reid continues to serve aces with a terrific sports drama set in the world of professional tennis.

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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With twenty Grand Slam and nine Wimbledon wins, Carrie Soto is the most successful and highest-paid female athlete of her time. When injuries made it impossible to continue at an elite level she retired from tennis in 1989. But when she watches Nicki Chan tie her record on the path to exceed it Carrie’s ego spurs her to mount a comeback at the age of 37 to the sport she dominated five years before. It is the return of the Battle Axe, the woman everyone […]

Gwendy 2 – 2 Gwendy 2 Featherous – and also Gwendy 3

Gwendy's Magic Feather by Richard Chizmar

Gwendy's Final Task by Stephen King; Richard Chizmar

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Gwendy’s Feather – The Buttonbox universe continues! This time without Stephen King for good and bad, I think. The writing is mostly the same and Richard Chizmar does a pretty good job of mimicking the style as needed. It’s most weird that Richard Chizmar in playing in the Stephen King universe more than anything. There’s some references to Alan Pangborn here of The Dark Half and Needful Things fame or infame, though he’s not a major element in the book. It’s a Castle Rock book […]

I’ll make a man out of myself (Bingo!)

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

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CBR14 Bingo: Star (Zhu might be described as something of a rising star within the Chinese power structure of the day, and also the sun is literally a star. I’m so very clever). Back in the 14th Century, the Mongols had conquered and ruled Imperial China. In a small village, drought and famine have killed the majority of the population. A nameless girl (one of the few children left in the village) has managed to stay alive thanks to her ingenuity. When her older brother, […]

Stuff happens without much action and I am confused

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

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BNGO review 23: Holiday Graduation is an event to celebrate. A holiday is the commemoration of a celebratory event that often includes celebrations. Thus, The Last Graduate and The Golden Enclaves qualify as holiday-themed stories. Confession: I haven’t totally finished The Last Graduate, but I had a chance to get The Golden Enclaves from the library; what my library does with new releases is they are available for shorter check out periods with no renewal option, and that deadline was approaching. Technically this is a […]

From Washington Heights to Riverdale Academy Day School

New Kid by Jerry Craft

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New Kid by Jerry Craft This book was both a delight to read and a hard read as well. It is not so much because of the content or concepts, but because of the flow. Things seemed forced at times; the point is thrown at you more than once to get it across. Is this good or bad? That is up to the reader. Are these nice people? For the most part it does seem like people are good, even the ones who are a bit […]

It’s Writing By Numbers but at Least the Painting is Good

The Outsider by Alex Finlay

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Grayson ‘Gray’ Hernandez has just finished law school. He dreams of making a big splash as a hot-shot lawyer, but so far his career hasn’t really taken off yet. Forever the idealist – his immigrant parents run a pizza place in a bad neighbourhood, and Gray wants to help them – he takes up a job as a Supreme Court messenger. It doesn’t pay much but at least he gets to be around the most brilliant minds of the country. Then, one night, the Chief […]



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