Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Soap Opera Level Drama & Ghosts!

Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore

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I happened across this title, and had to read the synopsis, and a queer trans Jewish ghost story was something I didn’t know I needed in my life until that moment. I knew this was going to be full of drama (who announces their affair at Passover Seder?!) but it’s also so full of emotional nuance. Ezra grew up as the eldest daughter and he had a lot of those tendencies baked in where he is always trying to fix things for his family and […]

Freeze Frame

Still Life (Armand Gamache #1) by Louise Penny

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Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is called out to the town of Three Pines, where artist and beloved local icon Jane Neal has been found dead. At first this appears to be a hunting accident; Neal has been shot with an arrow in the middle of the woods. But all is not what it appears, and soon Gamache is trying to decipher who, in this tight-knit and small community could’ve killed Neal. I’m not much of a fan of the whole cozy genre, and I didn’t […]

“Good for her, not for me.”

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

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In five words: Memoir, Frank, Wisdom, Femalehood, Funny This is my fifth time reading this book and I know it won’t be the last. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are two women I admire for their humor. I had the opportunity to see their live show and it was everything I had ever hoped for, seeing these funny women in person, in their element as friends having spent their adult lives sharing a comedy stage, first at Second City and later on Saturday Night Live. […]

Trust me when I say you need to read this book

Elena Knows: A Novel by Claudia Pineiro

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Cbr16bingo Liberate (bingo)  This is a short but very powerful story that deals with women, their bodies and bodily autonomy. This is the kind of book that is difficult to review because saying too much spoils it for the next reader. Elena Knows was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. It was originally published in 2007, but the English translation by Frances Riddle came out in 2021. While set in Buenos Aires, the subject matter will resonate with readers the world over.  Elena is […]

Purple thumbs and stabby plants

Prunella by Beth Ferry

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Along with Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden by Christy Mandin, the picture book Prunella by Beth Ferry and illustrated by Claire Keane, has given me a new category for books I like: Plants that are Not Your Cute Fluffy Pretty Garden Variety. The surface story is the same with both books: girls who love the spookier, odd, weird, dangers, spiky, thorny plants. They like them so much that they are isolated from their communities and peers. In both cases, the parent(s) encourage this individuality, even if […]

Really Side-Eyeing The New York Times Over Their Choices

Pastoralia by George Saunders

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This was one of the New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century? This? Friends, I loathed this book. 160 pages was probably 150 pages too many. There were few if any likeable characters, no one had a unique voice, and the crassness wasn’t shocking in an absurdist way, it was just unpleasant. I picked this up because of the New York Times list and because it fit one of this year’s PopSugar Reading Challenge prompts: a book with a one-word title you […]



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