Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Family: can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

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CBR17Bingo: “I” for “Intermezzo” President Obama recommended Normal People by Sally Rooney back in 2019, and I was very impressed by the writing. I was already interested in reading Intermezzo, (2024) Rooney’s latest novel. But when Obama recommended Intermezzo as well, it only became a matter of time. I have to admit that the synopsis did not draw me in, and I was a little concerned that Intermezzo would not hold up to Normal People. In a nutshell: there are two Irish brothers, separated by ten years in age, and even more in […]

Murderbot takes on a murder mystery

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

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CBR 17 BINGO: Black (see cover) I’d taken a short hiatus from reading Murderbot, but watching the Apple series put me in the mood again. Apparently it did the same for many fans, and probably generated a bunch of new ones, because when I went to my local library almost every Martha Wells novel had been checked out. Fortunately, I had plenty of other BINGO books to read while I waited for my turn to borrow Fugitive Telemetry. This time around, SecUnit is brought in […]

A king, a princess, the masters of wizardry, and a dragon walk into a grove

The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin

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CBR 17 BINGO: “O” (for “Other”) BINGO:  Rec’d, Culture, O, Green, White I started reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s Books of Earthsea last year, and I just recently completed the final (sixth) novel in the collection: The Other Wind. As I mentioned in my earlier review of the initial trilogy, there’s something unique about reading a long-established classic and genre-defining series for the first time. The Books of Earthsea are epics in the vein of Lord of the Rings, and something every fantasy enthusiast should […]

Did a chick? Dud a chum?

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

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There isn’t a Constant Reader alive who wouldn’t recognize the title of this post. The lobstrosities that plague Roland the Gunslinger in the second Dark Tower book are one of the only constants in a novel that hurls the reader through different points in both time and space (though always returning to New York City). The Drawing of the Three brings Roland closer to his elusive Dark Tower, but at great cost. Early on, he’s besieged by the horrid, ocean-dwelling lobstrosities, who rob him of […]

Shifters, fairies, bake offs, oh myyyy

The Alpha and the Baker by Roxie Ray

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Y’all, when I tell you this delightfully sweet and sexy bon bon of a novel is everything I needed to take my mind off of [insert Kermit flail here] everything. I just didn’t know it when I started The Alpha and the Baker by Roxie Ray this morning. Castiel McAllister*, known by one and all as Cas, is a golden retriever of an alpha wolf shifter. Nary a grunt or assholery behavior to be found, only a desire for his pack to be safe, healthy […]

Short and sweet, with great illustrations

The Dragon of Og by Rumer Godden

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Our 2025 read-aloud journey continues! I found this one thanks to a list along the lines of, “If you liked The Hobbit…” We read it in one afternoon (it’s very short), and both kids give it two thumbs up. The titular dragon has a lovely home under a pool in a river belonging to Lord of Tundergarth, a home found for him by his thoughtful mother. He is a shy, quiet dragon who eats only one bullock every 2 or 3 weeks, from the cattle […]



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