Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

In Her Own Land

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

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I only became aware of Prophet Song when it won the Booker Prize over Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, a big, important book about one of the defining issues of our time. I was selling Paul Lynch short. Prophet Song is more compact than The Bee Sting, but it’s also an important book about the world we live in. Eilish Stack is a middle-aged, middle-class Irish woman working in a science lab and raising four children with her husband Larry, a leader in the teacher’s […]

All Systems Red

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

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All Systems Red is the first book in the Murderbot Diaries, by a huge margin the most enjoyable sci-fi I’ve read in the past few years. It is simple, an easy read, hilarious, and since this is my second time through, holds up on a re-read. Murderbot is a SecUnit, a cyborg made from robotic parts and cloned tissues for use on the Corporation Rim, a loose conglomerate of corporate entities at the edge of space-faring civilization. Most corporations are complete assholes, with frequent use […]

Is Destiny A Choice?

Red String Theory by Lauren Kung Jessen

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I was given an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Rooney Gao is an artist who feels she has always lived in the shadow of her famous artist mother. Her mother’s breakthrough piece was a live video of the birth of her daughter, Rooney. Rooney feels that because of her notoriety since birth, she has to create under the alias, Red String Girl (RSG). RSG’s creations all use red string to convey messages about destiny and interconnectedness. Rooney believes strongly in […]

The Two Towers: Pippin is just a stand-in for Tolkien’s son right?

The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien

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I’m back from my second visit to OG Middle Earth and I have thoughts. Remember, you brought this on yourselves. I remember noticing a difference in Star Trek once Roddenberry was no longer involved. He was really hung up on the idea that there can’t ever be conflict among the crew, because in his perfect future, we’ve literally grown out of interpersonal conflict. And it was *boring* because it didn’t make sense. Even in a perfect world, it is impossible for there never to be […]

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

White Noise (The Rourke Stories) by Sophia Soames

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“Con, you don’t need to give me presents.” I had to stop and take a deep breath because this situation was out of control, and I couldn’t just stand here in my flannelette bottoms and pretend my life was fine. “Come on,” I said, taking the flowers from him. “In you come.” I sounded like my granny, and not in a good way. Next, I’d be calling him poppet and force-feeding him stale sweets from the eighteenth century. ― Sophia Soames, White Noise This wasn’t […]

Nonsensical, but not in the fun way

Uriah’s Orbit (Aligning Stars Book 2) by S.A. Sommers

The D in 403B (The 400 Block) by Jess Bryant

Topping the Alpha (Trident Security Book 5) by Samantha Cole

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Austin is a former teenage heartthrob and one-fifth of a world-famous boy band. Now that he and his bandmates have reached their late twenties, they are tired of putting out the same old pop music that made them famous a decade earlier. During a break from recording and touring, Austin lands his dream job: taking over mid-run as the lead in the musical Aida. No one believes that this boy band member can sing, but he proves them wrong with his impressive range and mastery […]



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