Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Surprises sent in the email

Archie Celebrates an Indian Wedding by Mitali Banerjee Ruths

Sami's Special Gift by M O Yuksel

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I love getting good surprise emails about books. Recently Charlesbridge Publishing sent me a link with new titles. There were several that talked about cultures that are not usually ones we see or know about. I jumped on in, read the 17 that were in English (a few were in Spanish) and found  these below. I admit, I made some assumptions about Archie Celebrates an Indian Wedding. Which, actually, I’m glad I did. I was able to learn from that, and that one should not assume; […]

2024 is going to be a busy year

Our Nipa Hut: A Story in the Philippines by Rachell Abalos

I Am Both : A Vietnamese Refugee Story  by Kerisa Greene

Two Homes, One Heart  by Jessica Young

All About Color by Elizabeth Rusch

Of Words and Water: The Story of Wilma Dykeman—Writer, Historian, Environmentalist  by Shannon Hitchcock

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It is a picture book reviewing round up time! My theme is that of cultures. Of course we know the concept of “country and culture” but sometimes a culture can be something you do not immediately think of.  Yelena and Papa take care of their nipa hut and it takes care of them in Rachell Abalos’s picture book, Our Nipa Hut: A Story in the Philippines. Due in February 2024, I was lucky enough to have my book dealer send me a finished copy, as this is a book that needs […]

Retracing the Past

Deception at Dixon Pass by Cindi Myers

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Left for dead in a snowstorm, Declan can’t remember what’s brought him there when he’s rescued by scientist Grace. But he knows he’ll have to be quick if he’s going to be able to catch a serial killer who’s slipped through his fingers once already. Harlequin romances are my comfort reads, but I haven’t explored much of the Intrigue imprint, which publishes romantic suspense. This seemed like a fun book to try out due to the central mystery – a nameless man who looms out […]

Becoming a teenager are confusing but this is a nice start to help sorting things out

Cross My Heart and Never Lie  by Nora Dasnes 

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Ages ago I asked for a reader copy of Cross My Heart and Never Lie and was lucky enough to receive a copy.  However, in the crazy that is my life, I finally found time to read it, but like any book this was the right time. It turned into an interesting book that is in a diary format, which is familiar, as is the theme of growing up, coming of age and the stages we find ourselves in, in comparison to our friends, but it is all done in […]

Entertained, But Left Wanting

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

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I wanted to like this more than I did. And I did enjoy it, but I was expecting more after having read Sea of Tranquility and seeing how much other Cannonballers like this one. Station Eleven alternates settings between when a flu pandemic starts and 20 years later in the post-apocalyptic world. In the future, Kirsten, one of the main characters, is an actor in The Traveling Symphony, a group of actors and musicians who travel from small town to small town to perform for […]

“Everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and place.”

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

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On St. Valentine’s Day in 1900, three Australian schoolgirls and their teacher vanish while on a school outing at Hanging Rock. Though they have disappeared from view like a rock dropped into water, the consequences of what happened will ripple outward until they touch the stories of even those who had been on the periphery of their lives. I’ve had my eye on the book for a few months now, so when I opened my Cannonball Book Exchange package from ElCiccio to find she’d send […]



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