Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?

Trust by Hernan Diaz

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I decided to read Trust because it recently split the Pulitzer Price for Fiction with Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. I had already read (and reviewed) Kingsolver’s novel, and wanted to be able to say I had read both winners. A word of warning: I couldn’t figure out how to talk about this novel without a few mild spoilers. Trust is divided into four sections. The first relates the story of Wall Street financier Benjamin Rask and his wife Helen. Benjamin, the scion of a wealthy […]

Life imitates art, which is inspired by quiet village life

Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson

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15-word review: Anonymous spinster Barbara Buncle writes a book to pay the bills, her entire village rages. This witty novel, originally published in 1934, features rather plain and unassuming village spinster Barbara Buncle falling on hard times and writing a novel to make enough money to be able to pay her bills. She briefly considered keeping chickens but doesn’t like birds. As Miss Buncle hasn’t really been anywhere or experienced much outside village life, she uses her own neighbours and the village of Copperfield where […]

A great debut novel

Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo

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This is one of those books about what could very well be about normal life. But it’s told in such an engaging and intriguing way. Adebayo is able to take the things that we all deal with – longing, loss, infidelity, belief – and show us how extraordinary we all really are. In a lot of ways, Stay With Me is a mirror reflecting our own desires, shortcomings, and struggles. We learn this by experiencing the lives of Yejide and Akin, who live in Nigeria […]

Don’t judge a book by its cover or an ogre by the crusty toenails

Princess Pru and the Ogre on the Hill by Maureen Fergus

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Princess Pru and the Ogre on the Hill was not, my favorite book I read during a picture book marathon. However, it was a book that I enjoyed because it took a familiar theme of, “Don’t judge a book by its cover or an ogre by the crusty toenails” and switched it up a bit. Maureen Fergus’s story is simple, Princess Pru has a great life. She has two overprotective dads, three tarantulas and an ostrich named Orville. But when the ogre moves in next door, […]

Raising a princess

I’m Going to Be a Princess by Stephanie Taylor

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At first, I’m Going to Be a Princess was doing nothing for me. It was a typical “I’m a little girl and I want to be a princess.” And I filled in, (a lot like the mother of the story I would assume) the pink and lacey and the pretty dresses and the flowers and the fairies and all the girl stuff that goes with it. Then, I was okay, this is getting better, as the mother starts saying, “Well are you sure you want […]

A cone is a dogs best friend

Cone Dog by Sarah Howden

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Sometimes a book holds its own even as a sequel/companion to another. However, I am not sure if Cone Dog is doing that. The companion of Sarah Howden’s Cone Cat, there are probably similarities, but since one is a dog, and the other a cat, there will be differences. Not to mention because of that, there will be “one is preferred over the other” campaigns. Carmen Mok’s illustrations are probably more amusing than the story for me, as they are cute and cartoon-like, without being […]



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