Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

New place, new community, new home

The Garlic Eaters by Madison Safer

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As a bookseller I have access to books in multiple ways. The easiest way is to have online reader copies. I was granted access to The Garlic Eaters by Madison Safer this way. I was going to wait to read it (as it is due in July 2026, so I had plenty of time to read) but decided why not? I needed something that seemed quick and easy. There is nothing quick or easy about things. You are getting a deep story about displacement from […]

The book I didn’t think I’d like, read anyway, and was delightfully surprised by the results

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

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The publisher description of “With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner Satoru as they take to the road on a journey…” is the perfect way to describe The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (translated by Philip Gabriel). And I thought that before I was even halfway through. I am now (as I start this review) a little over halfway through and it is still perfect. The emotion of the story is soft, but intense as […]

Just give me all the Claire Keegan

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

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I read this several months ago but it has stuck with me. A short and almost circumspect meditation on the difference that our choices make, and bravery in those choices.  The setting is Ireland in 1985, in the weeks leading up to Christmas (making it a very timely read for RIGHT NOW, if you are looking for something!) Bill Furlong is a hard working a coal merchant and devoted to his family. While delivering an order to a convent, Bill discovers something  – a secret […]

Who am I if not Zeus?

Tender Cruelty by Katee Robert

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When Shattered Gods comes out next year, I’m going to reread the series uninterrupted. Some of the books have been frustrating because the individual romances have been overshadowed by the series long plot, and I think it will all work together better with less time to forget details. Which is to say, I both enjoyed and was frustrated by Tender Cruelty. Zeus and Hera’s enemies to lovers romance has been teased for a few years now. Tender Cruelty feels a little bit short to take Calliope […]

Stronger Together

The Strength of the Few by James Islington

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When I read James Islington’s The Will of the Many back in 2023, I loved it and immediately wanted to read the next book in the series (The Strength of the Few, released last month). That anticipation dropped somewhat when I read one of his other books The Shadow of What was Lost, earlier this year, and found it pretty mediocre. Had the author improved, or had my tastes just changed? I decided to re-read The Will of the Many a few weeks ago, just […]



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