Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Bright Young Women Puts the Focus Where It Belongs

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knolls

by 3 Comments

One of the most frustrating aspects of our culture’s obsession with true crime is the tendency of writers, directors, podcasters, etc. to put all their focus on the criminal, lionizing him (it’s always a Him) as if his crimes showcase his intelligence instead of his depravity. That’s ever-so-slowly starting to change. Your Own Backyard does an incredible job focusing on Kristin Smart and the impact her disappearance made on her friends and family, and when it discusses Paul Flores it contextualizes him as the misogynist […]

Sadie didn’t so much like people as suffer her own attraction to them.

Let’s Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About by Isabelle Popp

by 2 Comments

I recognize that books are not therapists, but I can’t actually afford a therapist, so books are what I’ve got. It took me a bit to dive into Isabelle Popp’s Let’s Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About because I have recently read some wonderfully emotionally devastating books, and I was not up to a book with a fraught father daughter relationship. After a couple of books that I enjoyed in peace, I opened Pumpkin to Talk About again and within two chapters was completely in […]

A cautionary tale for us all

The Lion Women of Tehran: A Novel by Marjan Kamali

by Leave a Comment

Cbr17bingo Culture (would also fit diaspora) Perhaps you have seen this meme recently — a row of eight women wearing western fashions in the 1970s in Iran. These women were members of Parliament, but by the end of the decade, revolution forced Iranian women out of public life and back into traditional garb, covered from head to toe, and subject to punishment for exercising their rights. I’m old enough to remember when the Shah went into exile and the Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran to […]

Mooses? Meese? Why No Plural?

Massacre Pond by Paul Doiron

by 2 Comments

cbr17bingo Favorite Well, there is a massacre of sorts involved here, but Massacre Pond is identified as being somewhere else than this locale, and isn’t really involved with this story.  Makes you wonder who chooses a title, and I suspect in this case, it wasn’t Doiron. Anyhoo, the massacre victims consist of ten moose.  All shot point blank on a game refuge, and clearly not for the meat.  Someone (make that two someones) are clearly trying to send a message.  There is a season for […]

My Travels to Tanria Come to an End

The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen

by Leave a Comment

The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam is the third and final book in the series that began with The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy. It was one of my most looked forward to books of the year, and while it was my least favorite of the three, it still has that Megan Bannen way of approaching a story that I love. In her Fun Author Questions with Powell’s Books Bannen talks about loving to mash genres together so that we can all have fun in […]

Spirals, swirls, and twirls

Uzumaki by Ito, Junji

by Leave a Comment

Bingo Row 4 – Favorite Someone recently asked me who my top 5 manga creators (mangaka) are. I struggled to find a 5th and eventually said Junji Ito to end the conversation. I hadn’t read enough Ito to say he’s honestly a favorite. I’ve liked what I’ve seen, but that’s not much. Just some short stories and I have a sweatshirt with his cats on it. And that King of the Hill crossover, if that counts. So that I wouldn’t be living a lie, I […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo