Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Confusing, but fun

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

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Nowhere Book Bingo: Award Winner (Won the Hugo and Locus awards in 1998, plus a bunch of others) Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Scene on a boat or body of water (there’s a lot of rowing on the river) CBR16 Bingo: Tech (time travel requires pretty specific technology) This is the second book in the Oxford Time Travel series, but you really don’t need to have read the first one, Doomsday Book, to understand and enjoy this one. In the universe these books are set in, […]

“It’s true that giving can be a part of love, but contrary to popular belief, your love should never take from you.”

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki

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Nowhere Books Bingo – Graphic novel Official plot summary, because once again I have waited to long to review the book: Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley’s dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There’s just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend. Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy’s best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps […]

“No, I mean, it’s all in pieces.” “Yes. So are we all.”

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

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Light from Uncommon Stars is both entirely typical of my reading (characters going through it, romance main or subplots, coming to terms with one’s choices, a commitment to reading trans and non-binary authors) but also feels quite a bit outside my comfort zone. I had initially put this book on my to read list because of the 2023 Read Harder tasks asking us to read a book about a trans character by a trans author and a book from the Ignyte Awards. Then my 2023 […]

When Obama likes a book, I read it

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

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I picked up The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (2023) by James McBride because it was on a bunch of year-end best-of lists, including Barack Obama’s favorite books. This one took a little while to get into as I figured out who all the characters were, but it was an interesting, well-written book. I can see why Obama included it on his list. This book is difficult to describe, and it’s probably best if you just read it, but I’ll do my best. The story is centered […]

Girl is not truly one but truly two…. unless she has the magical antidote

Jaclyn Hyde by Annabeth Bondor-Stone and Connor White

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I am not sure I liked the book Jaclyn Hyde by Annabeth Bondor-Stone and Connor White. I know I enjoyed it, but liked it? I am still on the fence about it. There is a lot of good, but I am assuming that I am not really the audience for it, and therefore, not picking up what Bondor-Stone and White were putting down.  And this story is obvious: Jaclyn Hyde is perfect. Perfect grades, organizes her school books alphabetically by authors’ hometowns, never really gotten […]

Jack and the Beanstalk…. but different

A Home in the Sky (Twicetold Tales) by Olivia Snowe

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Few story spoilers below: While the retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk has been done before, A Home in the Sky (Twicetold Tales) is a slightly older version and has a few modern touches.  Olivia Snowe has a series of different fairy tales/legends and made them for a today’s audience, but also kept the original feeling (or at least with this one, which I believe is Snowe’s first).  I have read reviews that said Jack was 11-years-old. I either missed that or people are assuming […]



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