Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Books are a weapon against lonliness. Putting them in the right hands lets people see one another. It makes us…better to one another”.

Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree

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Brigands and Breadknives returns us to Travis Baldree’s cozy fantasy world.  While the first book, Legends and Lattes, and the second published book (that’s actually a prequel), Bookshops and Bonedust, are able to be read on their own, Breadknives and Brigands requires you to have read Bookshops and Bonedust, and it’s helpful if you’ve read Legends and Lattes. Foul mouthed rattkin bookseller, Fern, has been adrift in her own life.  Running her bookstore in Murk is no longer giving her the satisfaction it once did.  A change of […]

History Sticks With Them

Entry Island by Peter May

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Rating: 3 Stars In a nutshell: Montreal Inspector Sime (pronounced Sheem) Mackenzie has been tasked with leading a team to investigate a murder that has taken place on a tiny English-speaking island in the heart of French-speaking Canada. Best for: Those who enjoy stories that have elements set in current day as well as the distant past (in this case, about 200 years ago). Worth quoting: Nothing stuck out to me. Why I chose it: So I finally bought a book by Peter May – […]

“There was, she thought, not very much difference in the behavior of a cat and a high-handed, chauvinistic Tudor autodidact in the body of a cat. The only thing to truly set them apart was the vocabulary.”

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner

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After solving her sixteenth murder in five years, small-town librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle is only just beginning to grow alarmed by the sheer number of death piling up in Winesap. But when her boyfriend is murdered and her cat gets possessed by a demon called himself Sir Thomas Cromwell, Sherry becomes sure there is something dark at work. This is the book for every person who has looked at how many books can pile up in a cozy mystery series and wondered what on earth is […]

A Mouthful of Dust: The Value of a Low-Stakes Read

A Mouthful of Dust: The Singing Hills Cycle #6 by Nghi Vo

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I have been reading through the Singing Hills Cycle series since 2022. They have served as bite-sized treats and motivation to return to reading usually during a lull. Given the time between reading each book, I would struggle to tell you what’s happened in previous stories at this point. I think I keep returning to the series because of Chih and Almost Brilliant. They are a lovely pair of characters to accompany from story to story. A Mouthful of Dust is the sixth installment of […]

Die Trying, Die Laughing

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

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One does not simply walk into 2026 without a good book to read. As luck would have it, I can recommend one straight out of the gate. Django Wexler’s  How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is the foul-mouthed, irreverent comedic fantasy novel that will set the tone for your own year of mischief and mayhem, should you choose to have one. And honestly, why wouldn’t you?  “The Dark Lord” by melbourneflower is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 . Davi has absolutely had it […]

Lesser but Diverting Austen

Persuasion by Jane Austen

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Jane Austen’s Persuasion is a lightweight story of thwarted love and slow burn longing. The heroine, Anne, is a sensible, gentle and overlooked woman with a somewhat difficult family. Her father is a spendthrift and has the family move out of their home in order to let it to well paying renters. One of her sisters is unmarried, cold and indifferent to Anne, while the other is married and a self centered hypochondriac. The book delves into the broken love relationship almost right away. It […]



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