Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Amazing John “The Kid” Constantine will pull a magic trick out of his sleeve, or destroy the world. Whichever comes first.

The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher: A Johnny Constantine Graphic Novel by Ryan North

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Do you like DC comics for the pre-teen to teen level? Then you might like The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher: A Johnny Constantine Graphic Novel by Ryan North, with Derek Charm as the illustrator. It is a fun story with a few magical twists, and how middle school/boarding school can be a real killer. This is a superhero story with an overconfident protagonist, and with a lot of magic. We follow John “The Kid” Constantine, as a middle school student, who gets into some trouble […]

“Everyone’s got secrets; it’s Florida!”

Grounds for Murder (A Coffee Lover's Mystery) by Tara Lush

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My summer of cozy mysteries continues! Grounds for Murder is the first book in a four-part cozy mystery series set in Devil’s Beach, Florida. Our hero is Lana Lewis, a journalist-turned-barista. (Tara Lush is a journalist, as well!) Lewis was doing great as a reporter in Miami, but a series of unfortunate work and personal events led her to moving back home to the Beach. Her hippie dad owns Perkatory, the local island coffee shop. She takes over as the shop manager as she tries […]

Lessons in Chemistry

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

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First off let me say that everything this book asserts about rowers is true. We’re a weird little bunch of obsessives who think our terrible hobby, which we hate, is the best thing on earth. I even heard about it from another rower: my mom, because rowers getting together can only talk about rowing. When some tiny piece of our insular world breaks out into the wider one, it spreads like an old fashioned “send this to ten friends or die” chain email. I felt […]

Drug Store Showdown

The Time Has Come by Will Leitch

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It’s been a wild ride watching Will Leitch grow as a writer. I’ve been reading him since his early Deadspin days and followed the growth of his career. Like a lot of writers who had success young, he had a choice of whether or not to be trapped forever in the enjoyable-but-inevitably-forgettable writing mindset of stale beer and bong hits. Or he could grow and find new avenues. And found them, he did as he moved on to popular magazines, podcasting, a TV show (cut […]

A mix of comics, video games, tabletop games, adventure cartoons

Digital Lizards of Doom Vol. 1 Digital Lizards of Doom by Gabriel Valentin 

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Digital Lizards of Doom Vol. 1 Digital Lizards of Doom by Gabriel Valentin  feels as the age aimed for is ages eight and up, but there are several points that might not be good for the sensitive reader. I would recommend it for at least aged 10 and up, who like video games, offbeat humor, oddities, and not easily disturbed by fantasy action. It feels a bit stereotypically “boy driven,” but a few female characters come into things (though one is a villain, one might […]

Forced to join the yearbook club was the least of his problems

Fearbook Club by Richard Ashely Hamilton

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I read R. L. Stine (Fear Street), Christopher Pike, Ritchie Cusick, etc, as a teen. Those teen thriller/horror stories that were fun, not overly serious, bit of romance, but had a bit of ghosts and ghouls and always a climax where the villains are unmasked (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively). And when I was reading Fearbook Club, I figured this must be the younger versions of those authors. Maybe a more humorous Goosebumps. Richard Ashely Hamilton made a story that was (as I said) a fun […]



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