Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

(Es)sex and Pirates

Glitterland by Alexis Hall

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Ash Winters is one of those characters you find in a lot of books: the Failed Male Writer. Once a darling of England’s literary scene, Ash now writes pulpy yet wildly successful thrillers as he battles with crippling depression. Then he meets Darian, frequently described by Ash as a glitter pirate: a male model from Essex. There’s spray tan, nylon and the kind of clothing that pairs glitter with artfully crafted holes. Ash is a snob, so he looks down on Darian, but Darian is […]

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times

A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry

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My reading experience for H. G. Parry’s A Far Better Thing was somewhat non-standard (at least for me). I first picked the book up back in June of last year. I read a couple of chapters, but the story wasn’t really gripping me, so I set it aside. I’ve really enjoyed other books by the author, so a few weeks ago I decided to give it a second chance, and I’m glad I did. This is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two […]

“What is kingship? Unfair power used against other men.”

The Pretender by Jo Harkin

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John Collan’s world has just been turned upside down. The nine year-old has just learned that he is not actually a peasant boy, son of a dairy farmer. Rather, he is told that he is in fact Edward, Earl of Warwick, and that he is expected to overthrow Henry VII, the new Tudor King, and assume the throne. John is whisked away to Oxford, where he assumes the name Lambert Simnel and begins his aristocratic education. The ensuing years take him to Burgundy and then […]

A timely book for the upcoming Olympics

The Favorites by Layne Fargo

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I saw The Favorites (2025) by Layne Fargo on some year-end, best-of lists and decided it was worth a try. It is a story loosely based on Wuthering Heights, written in the style of Daisy Jones & The Six, and based on the the competitive sport of ice dancing. Pairs figure skating was one of my favorite Olympic sports to watch back in the day, so I figured a book about ice dancing could be interesting. Katarina Shaw was obsessed with ice dancing ever since she was a kid, […]

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

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I am going to buy a permanent copy of this book for my collection. I loved this. I don’t even know what else to say. You want a horror filled The Little Mermaid with a plague doctor? Well this is your book. I loved the first half that shows the aftermath of what was done to the kingdom that captured a mermaid and then the beginning of how the mermaid and the doctor first met and began to feel…well something. I don’t have anything to say except […]

He’s not supposed to still be funny after we’ve broken up.

Still into You by Erin Connor

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I enjoyed Erin Connor’s Still Into You so much, like so, so much. The primary narrator Karissa Vacker, was great. The interstitials were narrated by William DeMerritt, Donald Chang, James Fouhey, Robb Moreira, and Greg Chun voicing each of the members of the band, Final Revelations. Still Into You is a second chance romance between two people who so clearly want to be together. Sloan, is a music journalist given the opportunity to interview a band that famously doesn’t give interviews. She had an intense […]



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