Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Don’t be suck a pain in the neck

The Accursed Vampire by Madeline McGrane

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The Accursed Vampire looked like it would be a funny story. I mean, a story of three vampire kids? You know there is going to be hijinks. I was ready for Madeline McGrane to dazzle me. Instead, I was, not underwhelmed nor overwhelmed by the result. What happens when three kids set off on an adventure to steal a book that was stolen from the master of one of them? (A master who just happens to be a witch)? You get The Accursed Vampire. These […]

I think I’m in the minority on this one: I don’t think I liked this book?

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Morena-Garcia

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After reading and enjoying Turn of the Screw, I craved more gothic literature. Silvia Morena-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic kept popping up on booklists everywhere, so I thought I’d give it a try. It’s now been three days since I finished the novel and I think I finally figured out how I feel about it. Set in 1950s Mexico, Mexican Gothic follows Noemí Taboada’s journey to conduct a wellness check on her cousin Catalina at the behest of her father. Catalina lives in a remote mountain town […]

If You’re Sick of Reading About Our Current Disaster, Try This One.

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham

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Let’s distract ourselves from current disasters with even worse ones from the past, shall we? There are nor many single-event disasters with greater name recognition or cultural impact than the meltdown at Chernobyl—so much so, that it still shapes the zeitgeist around nuclear power 25 years after the event. Adam Higginbotham does an excellent job at detailing exactly how the world fell apart and the exact human cost. It certainly seemed like the end of the world for the town of Pripyat, which was built […]

A masterclass in the novella; body horror and racism collide.

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

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We know that the people who join the Ku Klux Klan are monsters. Average people who act in monstrous, horrible ways. But what if some of the Klan members were actual monsters? Giant, hulking, dog-like beasts that want to consume and destroy Black people? Such is the premise of Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark. Maryse, a Black woman, hunts these monsters in Prohibition America with the help of her magical sword infused with the anger, pain, and despair of Black men and women of […]

The most effective collection of short stories I have ever read

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez

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The Dangers of Smoking in Bed is a collection of short stories by Mariana Enriquez. The stories are a mix of magical realism and outright horror. An Argentine writer, many stories take place in Argentina but a fair few also take place in Barcelona, Spain. Enriquez embues each story with a richness of their environment that make each story feel real and possible, despite the more horrific, fantastical elements. Most collections of shorts stories that I have read in my life are mostly fine. They […]

WHAT DID I JUST READ

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

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THIS BOOK IS BONKERS. My husband had so much fun watching me read it, especially when a Part would come up that made me shout “Oh, no!” or give a start at something that had just unfolded. I texted my sister throughout with many exclamations or observations. I noted that this book reminded me a LOT of Jordan Peele’s movies or Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. I’m not a usual fan of horror, but this book compelled me from beginning to end. I’m not going to say […]



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