Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

For the Birds

The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer

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The Impossible Thing is a curious little book. It’s part cozy-mystery, part coming of age novel, and part historical romance. It tells parallel stories about one hundred years apart, deftly using stylized prose to distinguish them for the reader. The story is unconventional without falling into the trap of being irritatingly quirky. While it’s by no means a classic, its charms will be readily apparent to most readers. In 1920s Yorkshire, Celie Sheppard’s birth brings hardship on her farming family, as her mother’s husband immediately […]

Our worlds can become so small if we don’t feel them shrinking

Unravelling by Preethi Nair

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This one moved me deeply. It’s the story of a Tanzanian-born, Indian heritage, Hindu, late middle-aged woman, Bhanu, coming to terms with how constricting her life has become and how each part of her identity both constricts and frees her. The story moves through her memories of growing up in Tanzania, to her adoptive family’s move to the UK and her marriage and her own family She’s a fierce protagonist, and draws other powerful characters to her; her adoptive grandmother, and various friends she makes […]

Go see a weed

The Weedy Garden: A Happy Habitat for Wild Friends by Margaret Renkl and Billy Renkl

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The Weedy Garden: A Happy Habitat for Wild Friends by Margaret Renkl and illustrated by Billy Renkl is a lovely, adorable and sweet read. The illustrations pop. I would like to see this as a series that shows “weedy gardens” around the country, so we can get an idea of climate and environmental differences. This book is a prose poem (a few lines on a page) telling us what you will find in a garden that is seemingly just a “weedy garden.” There are bees, […]

My grandfather told me about his pet fish that drowned

Grandpas, Piranhas, and Other Stories by Rocío Bonilla

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Grandpas, Piranhas, and Other Stories by Rocío Bonilla   (due March 2026; read via an online reader copy).   Things started out strong, but then with the bringing in other grandparents stories, things were a bit off-beat. With that said, it is a nice book that is a nice sharing book. By sharing I mean, you share it with your grandparents, your children can with theirs, and you and the child can share. You then can talk about how the things in the book are similar […]

I’m Glad I Kept Reading

The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

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Rating: 4 Stars Lots of spoilers below (though I don’t spoil the unexpected plot point in part three). In a nutshell: Isabel is forced to share her home with her brother’s girlfriend Eva, and Isabel is not one to share. But events transpire, and plots twist, and lives change. Best for: People who appreciate good writing and storytelling and who aren’t deterred by very descriptive sex scenes. Quote that made me think: “Isn’t that strange, how that works? You can think something that used to […]

We’re in for nasty weather

Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta

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I wrecked my splenius capitis (it’s a big muscle at the back of your neck). How, you asked? Why, by being stressy over the holidays! Ain’t life fun? Anyway, that’s why I picked a book with a break-neck pace. I think.  Jace, fourteen, finds himself at the top of a rocky outcrop over an abandoned quarry after a dare. As he warms himself up for a practice jump (so his nerves won’t fail him the next day when it’s showtime and there’ll be girls), he […]



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