Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Hoops is the name, being true to you the game

Lion on the Inside: How One Girl Changed Basketball by Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir

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Do you want a fun book about basketball, being true to yourself and girl power?  Lion on the Inside: How One Girl Changed Basketball is the book for you. Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, Judith Henderson and Katherine Ahmed made this book. They took Abdul-Qaadir’s life and show us how one brave woman fought the system to stay true to who she was and honor her faith. The idea that as a Muslim girl, Bilqis Abul-Qaadir was not allowed to “wear a scarf” while playing basketball. It did […]

Smile! You’re exploding

Kaboom! A Volcano Erupts by Jessica Kulekjian

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Kaboom! A Volcano Erupts and I finally understand how a volcano happens! Jessica Kulekjian might have written a book meant for the younger crowd (oh about ages three and up) and then added extras for the up crowd with “side balloons” with more than the basic information, but this adult finally got the picture. And that was not just because Zoe Si made some adorable illustrations. This book has all the ins and outs of volcanoes in a way that is cute and informative. And […]

“She had a knack for quiet insurrection.”

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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A fairy tale that is both familiar and new. Plot: Casiopea is living with her grumpy sexist grandfather, timid mother and hostile cousin in effective slavery because her and her mother had no where else to go when her father died. One day she stumbles on a large wooden box. In opening it, she releases a Mayan god, trapped in captivity for decades, and he wants revenge. One problem, she’s now his power source. Shenanigans ensue. I don’t remember quite which review sold me on […]

Rattle the Stars

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas

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I became a SJM fangirl with A Court of Mist and Fury. I’d read A Court of Thorns and Roses and thought it was decent “girl fantasy” – by which I meant the main protagonist was a young woman and the main plot revolved around a love story (now we’re calling it “romantasy” which I love and loathe in equal measures) – but nothing too amazing. Then Mist and Fury came out and I was hooked. I loved how Maas handled Feyre’s trauma, depression, and […]

The Very Best Book of All Time?

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

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I read this, like it was homework, over the course of six days. I know that a lot has been said about this book, often by some very, very intelligent people.  I have read none of it.  I didn’t even read the introduction (because it’s by Dave Eggers, ugh). (This is going to be filled with spoilers – Infinite Jest is over 20 years old, so anyone who wanted to be unspoiled has probably read it once or twice by now – but consider yourself […]

“Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful / give or take a night or two”

The End of the Affair (1951) by Graham Greene

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The End of the Affair exhumes a febrile wartime love affair between Maurice Bendrix, author, and Sarah Miles, wife of civil servant in the Home Security ministry Henry Miles. The affair is revisited retrospectively from Bendrix’s perspective, filtered through his authorly lens, hazy with self-righteousness, foggy with jealousy and thwarted passion–and then we get to visit it in real time via Sarah’s diary, which slices through Bendrix’s craft and self-centredness and desire and pretension with a steel blade forged in the fires of the Blitz […]



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