Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Uneven characters in real and D&D worlds

The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Role Playing Club by Doug Henderson

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The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Role Playing Club has a nice premise: group of queer pals, some of whom are very different from each other, get together weekly for their D&D sessions. Most of the real world characters and issues have a generally cliché but still cute quality to them. Ben is one of the main characters, he’s gay (or at least prefers men), college graduate (degree in history) who lives with his parent and makes spending money selling pop-culture paraphernalia online. He […]

Late October

Empire of Necessity by Greg Grandin

Friday by Robert A Heinlein

The Late Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

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Empire of Necessity – 5/5 Stars Grandin begins his book with a short retelling of the Herman Melville novella “Benito Cereno” about a slave rebellion on slaving vessel in 1799. In the novella, the ship is happened upon by another trade vessel where the captain Delano talks with Benito Cereno, the one surviving former crewmate, now held hostage in order to assure safe passage. Delano, not really seeing the Black crew and imprisoned slaves as capable of such a subterfuge, never really understands he’s being […]

Get your Dragon on

City of Dragons V01 The Awakening Storm by Jaimal Yogis

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I read City of Dragons V01 The Awakening Storm by Jaimal Yogis right after finishing Messy Roots. I was afraid that they would be too similar and ruin the experience of this second title. Thankfully, their differences made both a delightful reading experience. Now, Yogis does write for the younger crowd (at least 8-9 but probably more 10 to 14), but that older reader of Messy Roots could get lost in the excitement, magical, and even the silly adventures. In City of Dragons, we have […]

Not for me, thanks.

The President's Assistant by Mia Faye

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Harper has ambitious political aspirations so when her internship with the Senator of Maryland is discontinued, she is desperate to find new work. Fortunately, her best friend put her in touch with a Congressman making a bid for the presidency and in need of a personal assistant. However Harper and Congressmen Reid Prentice cross the line from professional to personal–having a quick romp in a limo before Harper even starts her job. Unwilling to compromise either of their political careers Reid and Harper establish their […]

Locked island mystery

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

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Another Agatha Christie! Clearly I like a detective novel and given the stress of pandemic wedding planning and the ‘spooky’ month of October, another Agatha Christie just felt right. And Then There Were None is Christie’s 1939 book, previously published as Ten Little Indians and before that by another even more offensive title. The name of the book comes from children’s nursery rhyme that forms the basis for the multiple murders in the book. Set on an island off the south coast of England, the […]

I didn’t love Ove.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

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She often said that “all roads lead to something that you were always predestined to do.” And for her, perhaps, it was something. But for Ove it was someone. Ove likes facts. He likes routine. And he doesn’t like change. So when the new neighbors run over his mailbox, it sends his world into upheaval. Suddenly a man who wanted nothing more than to grieve the loss of his wife is solving the neighborhoods problems: teaching the neighbor’s wife how to drive, running people to […]



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