Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Down With The Miss Vicky’s!

Down with Lime Books!: A Story about Book Banning by Jan Zauzmer

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Miss Vicky might tell us Down with Lime Books! But what she does not realize is that the kids like lime books, and pink and purple, and blue, and yellow and read…. I mean red. Yes they love to read them all. Of course, this humorous look at book banning is silly and a bit tongue in cheek, but Down with Lime Books!: A Story about Book Banning by Jan Zauzmer and Blanca Millán is about a serious subject As mentioned, the character Miss Vicky […]

Round on the Ends, High in the Middle

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

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In the fictional town of Bonhomie, Ohio, the lives of four people, two married couples, are forever changed by an impulsive decision made on V-E Day, 1945. The aftermath will reverberate well into the next generation in ways that are both explosive and predictable, as Ryan maps out his characters’ lives in conjunction with the sweep of mid-twentieth century American history. While Buckeye is fresh and exciting at the start, Ryan’s inability to commit to the story leads the book to devolve into something akin […]

All around us are people, of all classes, of all nationalities, of all ages

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

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CBR 17 BINGO: Border, because the murder takes place just after the train passes over the Yugo-Slavian border, resulting in there being no local police onboard. Also, the collection of guests on the train cross many borders into many different nationalities. Last year I received a beautiful Folio Society edition of Murder on the Orient Express for Christmas and have been waiting for just the right time to re-read this mystery. When I planned a train trip across the Canadian Rockies, I knew the time […]

This Mess is Pretty Neat

Mess by Michael Chessler

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The colorful cover of the book and its glitzy (and ditzy) Hollywood backdrop easily lure the reader in, for a quick beach or travel read. The chapters are set up as vignettes to showcase various Hollywood types and their messy lives – and how heroine Jane, a professional organizer (think a cross between a celebrity assistant and a devotee of lifestyle guru Marie Kondo), can brave the traffic of Los Angeles freeways and twisty/turny roads in the Hollywood Hills to save them all. Author Mike […]

“You take a bunch of people who don’t seem any different from you and me, but when you add them all together you get this sort of huge raving maniac with national borders and an anthem.” (Bingo)

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

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Nowhere Book Bingo 2025: A book with LGBTQIA-rep CBR17 Bingo: Border (this book is all about a very drawn-out war with borders between the opposing countries constantly changing, depending on who’s currently winning) Spoiler warnings for a 22 year old book. I don’t think I can review it well without revealing some of the more essential plot points. Official plot summary: It began as a sudden strange fancy… Polly Perks had to become a boy in a hurry. Cutting off her hair and wearing trousers […]

It seems I’m reading sports these days

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel

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Bingo Row 1 – rec’d My mother-in- law recommends two types of books. There are books that I already read and enjoyed and books that I don’t care for. So when she recommended Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel, I didn’t think I’d like it, but I mostly did. It’s a slice of life in a literal sense because it covers a very specific moment of eight girls’ lives – namely their competition in the Daughters of America Cup, a teenage girl boxing championship in Reno, Nevada. […]



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