Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I seem to have caught the eye of a real handful of a guy.”

Real-Time Fever by Taberu Kasumi

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Real-Time Fever follows Shizuka, a university student who livestreams as an anonymous cam model. He likes the attention of people seeing him and he has a crush on his favorite commenter, “Shiro.” One day he accidentally calls Shiro while he’s masturbating and saying his name, and it turns out that Shiro is actually a student at his school, Kurosaki. Kurosaki figures out that Shizuka is the anonymous cam model and blackmails him into doing a class group project together. If Shizuka wants his side work […]

“Even stuff like trash and dirt can sparkle brightly when light shines on it.”

Even When You Close Your Eyes, You Can See the Light by Maki Marukido

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Major spoilers follow throughout this review. I have mixed feelings about this one. I did enjoy it and thought it was an interesting story, but there are big parts of the work that make it probably impossible for me to recommend to the average person. Jin is an adult film star and a top who gets paired with Hikaru all the time for the gay porn company they work for, Cherry Bonbon. Cherry Bonbon makes gay porn aimed at women, and the part of the […]

“Why do I even go to school? What’s the point of all this?”

Red Threads by Ila Nguyen-Hayama

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Another random bookstore find that I really enjoyed. I always am hoping and checking for more YA graphic novels since fewer come out than those aimed at middlegrade readers, and this is aimed at around 14-15. Red Threads is about Hana, a high schooler from Tokyo who helps save a crow and then gets offered a scholarship at the Benten School of Esoterics, a fancy boarding school. On the train to the school, she meets another new student, Yoomi, a girl from Kansai whose family work […]

A Truly Great and Horrific Series Continues

100 Ghost Stories That Will Lead to My Own Death (Volume 3) by Anji Matono

100 Ghost Stories That Will Lead to My Own Death (Volume 4) by Anji Matono

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This is such a great series!!! I have been following it since before it got translated and published over here, so every new physical volume is a treat and I put them right on the shelf with a very satisfied feeling. This series is basically what the title proclaims. Every chapter is a ghost story told by a young boy, Yuma, which is a framing device that really works. He is telling the ghost stories straight to camera in the first page of every chapter […]

“I’m bored if you’re not around.”

Here and There and Us (Volume 2) by Thanat

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Major spoilers follow throughout this review! This was a letdown from the first volume. In this book, university entrance exams are coming up and initially Sokoki and Majima get dinner together after cram school every day, so their friendship continues. However, the assumptions that they keep making about how the other person feels, especially combined with Sonoki’s nervousness around Majima and his decision to pull back from their friendship, means that they spend a lot of time here talking to other people about what’s happening […]

Dogs leveled up

DnDoggos: Get the Party Started by Scott Underhill

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Tonka, Pickles, Zoey, and Magnus are dogs, friends, and a D&D party. Magnus is the game master, Tonka is a goofy puppet-wielding bard, Pickles is an impatient fighter, and Zoey is the thoughtful cleric. Their quest? to track down the mayor’s son Squish, and figure out why all of the squeaky toys in the kingdom have gone missing. Their real-life quest? to eat as many snacks as possible. So, you know, your average D&D adventure. The narrative bounces back and forth between the imagined D&D […]



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