Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Colder

Colder by Alex Bryant

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Full disclosure: Alex Bryant is a coworker and friend of mine. The first thing you will notice in Colder is Alex’s command of language. Through multiple narrators he is able to switch voices to give strong personality to the entire cast, which includes several unearthly beings. One character in particular speaks entirely in poem form, the writing of which is a literary feat that boggles my mind. For multiple dreamlike sequences this lyrical style works perfectly, creating a surreal sense as though you are witnessing something […]

Project managers and analysts are the ones really living the good life

The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce

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There are very few books I can think of that have, in my opinion, the perfect first chapter. The Ex Vows opens in a flashback, but as a memory rather than dropping us into the exact time. The narrating character (Georgia) misremembers, corrects herself, and even rewrites history to be more in line with what eventually happens between her and her love interest (Eli). It leaves you with a need to know more, to find out what happens to these people after their incredibly charming […]

I Took The Road Less Travelled and Boy Did I Regret It

Het Stravinskyspel by Arthur Japin

Maretak by Hilde Veeren

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This Cannonball Read is largely useless: neither of these books have been translated into English and since most of you fine folk don’t speak Dutch, there’s not really any chance for you to read them. Not that there’s much reason you should. Anyway, here’s my foray into Kanonskogel Lezen – the Dutch Edition.  First up is Arthur Japin’s Het Stravinskyspel (The Stravinsky Game). In it, we meet Cody, a boy on the cusp of adulthood. Cody lives in LA and has been moderately successful as […]

Fun and satisfying

Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes

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I’ve read a couple of books by Jojo Moyes now, and I’ve found them interesting and fun to read. So, I decided to listen to Someone Else’s Shoes (2023) as my next audiobook. The book takes place in London. Sam Kemp, a hardworking, frazzled mom, accidentally picks up the gym bag of Nisha Cantor, a rich and privileged woman. This accidental switch has pretty drastic consequences for both of them. Sam is headed to an important work meeting, and her only shoes are now the six-inch Louboutin […]

Hot eventually gets boring, but funny never does.

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

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People are way freakier than we acknowledge. Attraction has to do with so many things besides appearance. Hot eventually gets boring but funny never does. ― Curtis Sittenfeld, Romantic Comedy Another of my pet peeves is that the female characters used to be all sort of cutesy, like having flour on their nose after they baked cookies and not knowing it. And now they’re all a mess, like waking up really hungover and getting fired. I want to create characters who aren’t flawless but also […]

What does your garden grow?

Logan's Greenhouse by JaNay Brown-Wood

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It happened again! I was clicking on a link for book A and book B showed up. This time the book B was Logan’s Greenhouse by JaNay Brown-Wood and illustrated by Samara Hardy. And while the book is from 2022 this online link was still fresh and ready for reading. I figured I might as well give it a shot, especially since a second book I tried had the same wrong link and I figured the universe was telling me something. Now, Logan’s Greenhouse is […]



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