Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Another female scientist finds her happily ever after

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

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Ali Hazelwood is an automatic read for me now. I always enjoy reading her books, even when the characters drive me crazy. This is because they are likeable and funny–but in order to make the story work, they can be insanely obtuse when it comes to love. Apparently, I was a little obtuse because I only recently realized that Hazelwood had two new books out. I picked up Not in Love (2024) first, which centers around Rue. Rue is a little atypical. She only has a couple of friends, […]

The Grief of Wisdom

Where the Axe is Buried by Ray Nayler

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That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us. – Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 (NKJV). Nayler’s Where the Axe is Buried reminds me of the Book of Ecclesiastes. It is, in my mind, the least hopeful and most useful book of the Bible. All of this has happened before, and […]

Thinly veiled fascism warning could be thinly veiled something else in another year

The Memory Police by Ogawa, Yoko

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The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa is just sad. The evil dystopian memory police make people forget concepts under the guise of forgetting stuff. People accept it because forgetting stuff like music boxes and novels wouldn’t make you forget music or imagination. Except it totally does and people move on without whatever it was that they forgot about. Because what are they going to do? Remember? Pshaw. One day all the roses are gone. The response is, “Welp, roses were nice. Guess I’ll forget about […]

A hopeful future with robots and food

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

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If you need a story of chosen family and hope and good food, Automatic Noodle absolutely fits the bill. This is a delightful novella of a near-future where California has split from the United States after war, and part of California progressiveness was to give civil rights to human equivalent embodied intelligence (HEEI) robots. But those rights are limited – they’re not able to use a bank, own property, and there’s lots of prejudice against robots (very allegorical to American attitudes towards immigrants and marginalized […]

Calvin and Hobbes or Jackson and Irwin adventures?

Jackson's Wilder Adventures V02 Dentistry and Dreams, by Sarah Davidson

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I found a series awhile back that I thought was one of the best I had read. It was Jackson’s Wilder Adventures by Sarah Davidson. It was clever and unique. A young boy, Jackson, and his Calvin and Hobbesesque Hobbes, called Irwin the Thylacine, were the perfect narrators. Davidson mixed time travel in a Dr. Who manner with fun educational facts. Granted, there is no actual Tardis (and/or fill in your favorite doctor), just an old cardboard box, but the adventures were as fun. We […]

Let Me Forget

Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh

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Anna Johnson is home alone with her eight week old daughter. It’s nearly Christmas, and Anna is struggling. Around this time last year, her mother took her own life. She jumped off the cliff in a copycat move that also took the life of Anna’s father several months prior to that. Anna’s partner Mark is loving and supportive, but when Anna receives a mysterious note that tells her her parents’ death may not have been suicide after all, he tries to talk her out of […]



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