Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


I see hole like eyes. My mind is full of them.

Desperation by Stephen King

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Stephen King. Stephen King. Ok. So this is an audiobook edition of the novel from 1996 read by the author. All in all aside from professional actors reading memoirs, some poets, and a few rare birds, authors tend to be terrible reading their work. Stephen King is perfectly adequate. Though this is a long one to stay with him. I wonder as he’s reading this one, one that is a) not that good and b) full of a lot of casual sexual references and sexual […]

Road Trip 101: Stay away from the Creepy Shadow Men

Are You Listening by Tillie Walden

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Are You Listening is an odd graphic novel for the 14 to adult crowd. The oddness can only be likened to as if it was the set up to a plot of a classic Twilight Zone episode (with a few modern elements: the two main charters are lesbians and there is a modern plot point).  There is much build up but then nothing happens until the end for traditional action. It is there we get the supernatural elements hitting and hitting hard! There are creepy […]

Werewolves live among us

Red Moon by Benjamin Percy

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Ugh.  OK.  This one was a little rough.  It was such a good concept, but it was sooooo slow.  I think the audiobook was about 20-21 hours.  It probably could’ve been 10 and it would’ve been better. The premise is that some people in the world are werewolves.  They were “infected” with a prion originated in wolves.  I nerdily enjoyed the backstory of the disease.  I could’ve listened to more about that! It starts out strong too.  Patrick Gamble is on a plane flying to […]

Nobody wears this much armor unless it has been hurt by someone who had no reason to hurt him.

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

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This book presents the same interesting challenge that I like in a book: how to deal with an absolutely bad protagonist. I don’t mean uncompelling, but a bad dude. And not actually one super interested in redemption. He kind of is by the end, but only because of the costs he incurs throughout the book. Jude is a semi-retired heavy metal rock star. He’s got a young girlfriend he calls Georgia, from where she’s from. He’s also recently broken up with another similar girlfriend named […]

When the horror of dystopia seems like a moderate improvement on reality

The Store by Bentley Little

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Book synopsis: In a small Arizona town, a man counts his blessings: a loving wife, two teenage daughters, and a job that allows him to work at home. Then “The Store” announces plans to open a local outlet, which will surely finish off the small downtown shops. His concerns grow when “The Store’s” builders ignore all the town’s zoning laws during its construction. Then dead animals are found on “The Store’s” grounds. Inside, customers are hounded by obnoxious sales people, and strange products appear on […]

Death Always in the Castle

Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park, 2nd Edition by Lee H. Whittlesey

We have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

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Two books, very unalike, and yet sharing one general darkness. Death, spoken and unspoken, biogenic and anthropogenic. Non-fiction, and fiction. Come sit and have tea with me, won’t you? The sugar’s right there.



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