Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

For what was earth but a mirror of heaven? And what was she but a thing caught in between?

Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse

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The first two books in Rebecca Roanhorse’s Between Earth and Sky series, Black Sun and Fevered Star, are two of my favorite books of the last five years. I’ve proselytized these books so many times, and now, at last, I can tell people the end is worth it. Mirrored Heavens is a tense read. There were many points where I had to put my tablet down and pace in circles because otherwise I would scream just to relieve the pressure. This is exactly the kind of […]

The book that defeated a certified Completionist.

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

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**Spoilerific** I don’t leave books unfinished. Well maybe once (looking at you, How To Do Nothing). 26 pages of Cannonball reviews and only one DNF… Until now. Now, a few facts: I absolutely loved Justin Cronin’s ‘The Passage’ trilogy. It was expansive and emotional and deep and scary. I started reading this book in June. I slowly and tortuously made it 90% of the way through this book before giving it in last night. This book… this damned book. It has sucked the life out […]

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

The Lock-Up by John Banville

Alles Wat er Was by Hanna Bervoets

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Two relatively short, easy reads this week, neither of them terribly cheerful! The Lock-Up (John Banville) *** 1950s Dublin. A young woman is discovered in a rented garage, sitting in her car with the windows closed and a hose connecting the exhaust to the interior. The police are quick to call it suicide, though no note is found. But pathologist Quirke, still in mourning over the loss of his beloved wife, soon discovers that the young woman was probably sedated before being placed inside the […]

I have become a functioning part of the world.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

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When I first started here, there was a detailed manual that taught me how to be a store worker, and I still don’t have a clue how to be a normal person outside that manual. ― Sayaka Murata, Convenience Store Woman Keiko is stuck in a dead-end job. She works at a Smile Mart (a chain convenience store) in Japan. She has worked there since it opened eighteen years ago. She is an exemplary worker, showing up on her scheduled work days, always early. She […]

“In these islands there is no certainty. Bring your own food, your own gods, your own flowers and fruits and concepts. “

Hawaii by James A. Michener

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CBR16 Bingo: Détente – This book is all about all the different peoples and cultures that came to settle the Hawaiian Islands, and ends at the point that they really begin to comfortably and fairly coexist. Hawaii is a beautiful place with a complicated history, having over the course of more than one thousand years been settled by many peoples from many places, all of which have wrestled over its lands and wealth and made their indelible mark. This book is over a thousand pages long […]

The Other Side of Huckleberry Finn

James by Percival Everett

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CBR16 Bingo: Fanfic – This book is a reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which centers the viewpoint of the runaway slave Jim who accompanied Huck on his travels on the Mississippi. Jim is well-known as Huckleberry Finn’s runaway slave companion, but in this retelling we meet him as James, a character for who the stakes are higher and the world much more vicious than we ever glimpse in Mark Twain’s classic novel. It’s been a long while since I last read […]



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