Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I am waiting for the things I love to come back to me, to tell me they were only joking.”

Grief is for People by Sloane Crosley

This Time TOmorrow by Emma Straub

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Sloane Crosley wrote one of my favorite books in recent years – the funny, strange, smart Cult Classic – and when I heard she released a memoir about grief, I knew I wanted to put that in my library queue. In this memoir, Crosley tells about a terrible summer in 2019 when she experienced two jarring losses – first, a home burglary (while she was out) in which she lost some important jewelry (and a sense of safety at home), and shortly afterwards a dear […]

Just kiss already!

The Late Mrs. Willougby by Claudia Gray

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Miss Juliet Tilney goes to visit her friend Marianne Brandon in her charming home in Devonshire. They haven’t seen one another since the rather unfortunate house party where Mr Wickham was murdered, and Miss Tilney and young Jonathan Darcy managed to discover who killed him. Jonathan Darcy finds himself the rather reluctant houseguest of a former school bully, Mr. Willoughby. He goes to see him so as to not make his parents constantly worry about his lack of friends, but is rather miserable until he […]

Anita de Monte Laughs Last: shedding light on a forgotten artist

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

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mood music: Fantasmas – humbe I have complicated feelings about this book, and so I will preface by saying that I am rating it 3.75/5, rounding up on here. The beginning was a little slow, but it picked up for me about a fifth of the way through, and I couldn’t put it down after that. Gonzalez is a talented writer, able to craft fully formed, vibrant characters with narration bouncing off the page. If you like one of her characters, you really like them. […]

Cast of *Checks Notes* 300? All Right, Carry On!

The Hive by Camilo Jose Cela

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Eons ago, my BFF and I were wandering through a museum in Bruges, Belgium, when we stumbled on The Last Judgement by Hieronymus Bosch.  We must have parked ourselves in front of it for a good half hour (museums weren’t particularly crowded in those days) and yokels from California that we were, we were impressed.  The details and clever use of bodily orifices was stunning.  This book struck me as a secular Spanish version of same. Cela was a Spanish Nobel Prize winner, and this […]

None of This is Worth Reading

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

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  I will lead off with the caveats that I do not usually like this type of book, and I also found the bells and whistles added to the audiobook largely distracting. With that said, None of This is True is a story of two women with very different lives, and the randomness that brings them into each other’s lives. Podcaster Alix Summer is out celebrating her 45th birthday when she is approached by Josie Fair, who is also celebrating her own 45th birthday. Casual […]

He went abruptly still. “Would you rather I stay dressed?” “Please don’t,” I blurted.

All The Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows

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“Slyly I said, “So you do like him.” Markel’s expression was pained. “He’s a familiar sort of stupid, that’s all,” he signed. “Like you at eighteen, but with better hair.” ― Foz Meadows, All the Hidden Paths All The Hidden Paths picks up a few weeks after the end of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance. Still grieving after the events of the first book, Cae and Velasin are summoned to the capitol by the Asa, Tithena’s queen. Cae is the unwilling heir of his grandmother’s […]



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