Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Writing for you and me and herself

Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy

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I have not read a lot of Huda Fahmy’s works, but what I do know is that they are an important voice in today’s literary world. Not because she is a woman or because she is Muslim, but because she is someone who is writing about experiences we all face.  I picked up Huda F Are You? (by the way, her mother hates the title) because I found an autographed copy. And while I thought Fahmy would focus more on her religious relationship, the story […]

How Wretched Was My Valley

This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer

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As this is a horror novel I wanted to start with some content warnings. The book contains a lot of gore, blood, and some body horror. There are instances of animal death(s) and, well, people deaths. Lots of deaths! I did not check content warnings before reading (that is on me) and was surprised by the level of body horror. This is the story of four adults (and one dog) who venture into the Kentucky woods to climb a previously undiscovered cliff face and conduct […]

Unfussy (and that’s a good thing)

The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben

Dead Lake by Darcy Coates

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After forcing my way through one of the hallmarks of 19th century European literature (voluntarily, no less) I decided I deserved something less fussy, and so I picked Coates (always a reliable plck for moderately scary yet uncomplicated) and Harlan Coben, whom I’d never read before and kept putting off because people were giving me high expectations.  Let me preface this by saying I’m typing this after spending the entire weekend abroad with my students and coherence is not my forte at the moment, so […]

Childhood Nostalgia / American Propaganda

The Kachina Doll Mystery by Carolyn Keene

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

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I devoured both the Nancy Drew and Little House books when I was in elementary school, so it feels a little odd to read them in such close succession now. I still enjoy them, but I’ve rather lost the cuddly feeling since then. It’s more obvious to adult me that the books were written in the expectation of reaching a certain sort of child, and that child did not look like me. The Kachina Doll Mystery – 3 stars When Nancy Drew is summoned to […]

Women In Power

The Great Mrs. Elias by Barbara Chase-Riboud

Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome by Guy de la Bédoyère

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Over the week, I read two great accountings of women in power in very different contexts. It felt natural to include them both in one review. The Great Mrs. Elias **** I knew very little about Hannah Davis going into this, which helped as it read like a page-turner. Barbara Chase-Riboud does a great job in story form of presenting Hannah’s plight and the tough choices she had to make. The dialogue could’ve used some sprucing up, but otherwise, I really enjoyed this quality work of […]

Crime, suspense and romance in Regency England

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies (The Ill-Mannered Ladies Book 1) by Alison Goodman

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Shoutout to Narfna for bringing this book to my attention! This was a very entertaining novel that contains three exciting adventures featuring a highly unusual woman in Regency England. Lady Augusta Colebrook is forty-something, single, and a member of the noble class. She and her fraternal twin sister Lady Julia are well connected and well liked in London society, but then again very few people know about their private activities. When we meet Augusta (Gus) and Julia, they are attempting to help a married friend […]



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