Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“It’s good for what ails you.”

rez dogs by Joseph Bruchac

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“All the old stories are so alive that even when you hear one of them again, that story may decide to show you something new. ” – Grandpa Roy. This is a short novel, told in verse, about Malian, a Native American girl whose visit to her grandparents on a Wabanaki reservation becomes extended. Although exact dates are not mentioned, we all know this must take place in March of 2020. Malian’s parents are in Boston, but since the reservation closes itself off to visitors […]

What’s Hecuba to him? or to her?

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

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I devoured Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls just after Christmas, and was pleased to find that the sequel, The Women of Troy, was also available. And so what better way to start my Cannonball read this year (my first ever), than by a review of this fantastic book? You don’t need to have read Silence of the Girls (though you should, because it’s excellent) because Barker reiterates the important stuff which went down in that book which has its impact on this one, […]

Spies Alive

The Torqued Man by Peter Mann

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The Torqued Man is a very difficult novel to pull off. It has to accurately replicate the atmosphere of Nazi Germany in World War II, introduce two queer heroes enmeshed with each other without the Tragic Homosexual trope, present a novel-within-the-novel that tweaks the story without it losing momentum. become a high wire spy tale in the tradition of Furst and LeCarré, and do all of this in a way that entertains while seamlessly blending multiple genres. And man oh man does Peter Mann do it. […]

“My heart is a hand reaching”

Devotion by Hannah Kent

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Devotion is a gloriously beautiful, heartbreaking story of impossible, indestructible love. Hanne is a girl becoming a woman in a community of Lutheran extremists in 19th century Prussia.  She has never doubted her family’s faith, but feels a deep spiritual and synaesthetic connection to the natural world, hearing an underlying hum of music. “Baptise me in rainfall and crown me in sunrise.” “I could hear the sunshine ringing like a blow to the ear.” Hanne’s oddness is a barrier to friendship with the other girls of […]

Spoiler Alert

They Both Die At the End by Adam Silver

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This book has such an intriguing concept but, in my opinion, falls totally flat in execution. I feel like its important to note that I am a BOOK CRIER. I cried at almost every book I’ve read this year. I cry at commercials where like grandpas learn English to talk to their new grandkids or any lesbians get married or literally anything with a dog. I am SO EASILY manipulated into crying. I did not cry at this book where our two main characters DIE. […]

Enjoyable read, in spite of being the weakest in the series

A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz

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Ever since I discovered Anthony Horowitz in 2019, I’ve been catching up on his previously released novels and eagerly awaiting new ones. I was, therefore, delighted to see A Line to Kill, book #3 in Horowitz’s Hawthorne series, gracing bookstore shelves while I was out Christmas shopping last month. I marched up to my husband and announced, “I’m buying this for my dad, but I would also like to add it to my Christmas list.” Because I have a husband who picks up on these types […]



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