Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

actually a bit of christmas-y schmaltz

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

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A recommendation from Britt! Via Book Group’s year-end book swap, where amusingly enough I didn’t actually pick this up (and no one picked up The New Enclosure: The Appropriation of Public Land in Neoliberal Britain would you believe???) Okay like, is this schmaltz? Yes. Is this very pat and full of plot threads so neatly tied up you’d roll your eyes if someone insisted it’s a true story? Yes. Does this have a bit of a twist that isn’t foreshadowed on the jacket and might entirely throw […]

Historical middle grade with unions!

The Pecan Sheller by Lupe Ruiz-Flores

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The Pecan Sheller is set during the late 1930s and follows Petra, a thirteen-year-old girl who has to leave school and get a job shelling pecans after her father’s death in order to help her Amá pay the bills and take care of Petra’s younger siblings. While working in the pecan factory, Petra makes new friends, but also is confronted with terrible working conditions and seeing many people get tuberculosis and die. When one of her new friends dies and the factory owners want to […]

a book that is well written but infuriating

The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami

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Is it fair to downgrade this book because it’s hard to read? And by which I mean, the plot tears at your heart and makes you furious at times. I guess maybe not, but that is what I feel and so that is how I will rate this. Fair trigger warnings: this book has anything and everything you’d expect to see in a “faithful and true” recounting of Spanish conquistadors lathing their way through La Florida–there’s sexual assault, slavery, cannibalism, emaciation, the whole kit and […]

The corruption of the rich

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

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I think I discovered The Heiress (2024) by Rachel Hawkins when I was browsing through my library app looking for available books. Surprisingly, I don’t think I saw it on any lists. But the first paragraph was written well, and the main characters were living in Golden, Colorado–a town close to my heart. So, I decided to read it. The Heiress is the story of a very rich family in Tavistock, North Carolina. They live in a beautiful house named the Ashby House, surrounded by the gorgeous views […]

And they all fall down.

The Fall of the House of Usher: A Graphic Novel by Edgar Allen Poe and Raul Garcia

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My 624 and a full 12 Cannonball review is actually one that is a bit lackluster. Now, I enjoy a good Edgar Allen Poe as much as the next English Major Casual Fan, but The Fall of the House of Usher: A Graphic Novel (adapted and illustrated by Raul Garcia) is not one of my favorites. However, as it is adapted into the graphic novel format, I felt it would be a better way to understand the story (The Lottery by Shirly Jackson has been […]

Love Among the Feral Set

The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

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If you have ever been exposed to the world of the British landed gentry (in books only, obv!), it is generally on the male side.  The young lads attend a public school (such as Eton), go off to one of the Oxbridge colleges, and then emerge as captains of the Empire.  The female side?  Not even close. My first exposure to their bizarre world was <i>Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford</i>, which I read and reviewed earlier this year.  The Mitford sisters were six in […]



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