Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Why I can’t finish action manga series most of the time

Jujutsu Kaisen vols 13-15 by Gege Akutami

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Something that annoys me is when action-based stories spend many pages, episodes, or volumes telling a bunch of different sides, parts, or experiences of a fight; it gets boring and I lose track, get bored, or both. Jujustsu Kaisen has gone there. It started a volume or two ago, and volumes 13, 14, and 15 continue the fighting for the same fight. Volume 15 at least contains a hint maybe actual plot or character might be impending. Really the only thing that makes these sequences […]

Weaving a family together

French Braid by Anne Tyler

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The Garretts will grow on you. This story centers on the Garrett family, starting with the artistic Mercy and her husband Robin, who meet and marry in the 1940s. Robin works at the hardware store that was once owned by Mercy’s father. Together they have three children – dutiful Alice, slightly more wild Lily and the ever more distant younger son, David. They take their sole family vacation in the summer of 1959, which is a focal point for the early part of the novel, […]

Gothic Bathos

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

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All good things come to an end.  Reviewing Northanger Abbey finalizes my happy stint as the chair of the Jane Austen Book Club. While Northanger Abbey was Jane Austen’s first completed novel in 1803, it was only published posthumously together with Persuasion in 1817. The book follows 12 months in the life of 17-year-old Miss Catharine Morland who lives in a happy family with comfortable means (her father is a country clergyman). Catharine is naive as befits young ladies of her age. She likes reading […]

A touch of science and romance

Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood

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After finding Ali Hazelwood through a recent book club book, I’ve been reading her trio of romantic STEM novellas. Below Zero (2022) is the second novella that I’ve read, and it has what I’ve come to expect from Hazelwood. There’s a smart science-y woman, a hunky hero, friendship, a misunderstanding, and in the end: a happily ever after. This one I listened to on Audiobook. Hannah has always known that she wants to work at NASA, and that knowledge has motivated her to succeed through a lot of schooling–even […]

Strangers on a Train with no murder involved!

Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley

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It took almost a full six months, but I think I have what might become my favorite book of 2022. Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley was a wonderful surprise. I grabbed this book from a library display (to complete a summer bingo card entry “read a book from a library display”).  I had enjoyed Pooley’s previous book, The Authenticity Project, so I decided to take a chance on her latest. Iona Iverson was somebody back in her day.  She and her girlfriend […]

Sister Magic

Beatrice Likes the Dark by Genevieve Tucholke

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Beatrice Likes the Dark while her sister Roo loves the light. Neither can understand the other’s love of spiders, cellars, stars (Beatrice), or the sun, flowers, and the days joys (Roo). But when Roo admits to being afraid of the dark, Beatrice does what any good big sister would do, and gives her a special piece of magic. Learning to appreciate and love each other (even if they cannot get behind the other’s personal tastes), the sisters create a happy medium. April Genevieve Tucholke’s text […]



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