Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Salmon Running and Snow Falling

Salmon Run: An epic journey to the ocean and back by Annie Chen

Snowfall by Sun-jung Park

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Picture books are a fun way to read books. You finished reading something, feel accomplish and can binge without really taking a lot of time out of your day. Take an hour and you can have half a dozen or more reads under your belt depending on the size of them. Two books that would be a good hour read are the two below. The first is a bit on the longer side and paced so you do want to take your time. The second […]

So Erman and Beck… Can we talk?

Loving, Ohio by Matthew Erman and Sam Beck

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Did I like Loving, Ohio by Matthew Erman and Sam Beck (illustrator)? I really do not know. I was talking to a librarian at the local library and they asked me if I liked it. They had a copy and read it a while ago and since we have some similar tastes in books they were interested in my opinion. They said they liked it, I said I was not sure. It had a lot of emotions and we talked about pieces of it, the […]

Margo, you couldn’t be good if your life depended upon it. You are a walking hurricane.

The Halifax Hellions by Alexandra Vasti

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A few years ago I started hearing about some fantastic self published historical romance novellas by a new author, Alexandra Vasti, In Which Margo Halifax Earns her Shocking Reputation and In Which Matilda Halifax Learns the Value of Restraint. Naturally, I acquired them, plus a third one, In Which Winnie Halifax is Utterly Ruined. I bought them, but because of brain things, I never read them. The first two have been collected in one volume, The Halifax Hellions, which is being released next week. I’m […]

The Problems of Two Lonely People

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

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Insert Roger Ebert’s review of North here. Seriously, there ought to be a law against writing a novel this long (nearly 700 pages) and this mediocre. Kiran Desai’s long-awaited novel made many awards shortlists and “Best of 2025” pieces, including President Obama’s, but reading it was excruciating. Of the novel’s many, many characters, none of them are likable or compelling, which is honestly kind of an achievement in its own right. Sonia and Sunny are both Indians who have gone to the United States for […]

Font of all evil

Hellsans by Ever Dundas

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I have just finished Hellsans by Ever Dundas. It took me a little longer than I intended, largely because I struggled at times to maintain my attention. That difficulty, I think, comes down to how long it takes for the universe to make sense. There is very little exposition or direct explanation of what is happening in this near-future society, and much of the novel relies on the reader slowly assembling the rules of the world from context. By the end, it becomes clear that […]

Balance

The Tightrope Wanderer by Federica Ortolan and Marco Leoni

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Ironically, not feeling well while reading an online reader copy might have helped me love the story even more than I would have if I was in perfect health. You see, The Tightrope Wanderer by Federica Ortolan and illustrator Marco Leoni would have probably been just another story about a person who did what he loved, grew old and then moved on. And it would have been nice, but nothing special. Instead, I came away with an appreciation for it that I am not really […]



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