Cannonball Read 12

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

> FAQ Home
> Genre: Short Stories

Dreamy but Derivative (also CANNONBALL!)

And I Do Not Forgive You: Stories & Other Revenges by Amber Sparks

by 9 Comments

These stories have been told before. Most are fairly clever fairy tales retold, some are veiled retellings of myth and history, and a few are sparkling new. They have been told before in the sense that they are retellings, but they have also been told before in the sense that other authors have done these before, and done them better. It was difficult to find the author’s voice; reading the collection felt less like one author’s work and more like an anthology of the who’s […]

Across the street from their house, in an empty lot between two houses, stood the rockpile.

Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

by Leave a Comment

A great collection of short stories by James Baldwin. Generally (if not all of) these stories are near perfect, and a good reminder of how much I really like listening to short story collections on audiobook. The opening story “The Rockpile” is one of those perfect stories (I think “Sonny’s Blues” and “Going to Meet the Man” are the obvious others), begins us with a boy watching his step-brother defy all order to stay in the house and goes to the neighborhood rockpile where there’s […]

“The monster was the best friend I ever had.” Boris Karloff

House of Fear: Attack of the Killer Snowmen and Other Stories by James Powell

by Leave a Comment

Book: House of Fear: Attack of the Killer Snowmen and Other Stories Cover: One Scooby Doo rip off to go please. The story: Well now. That was creepy. Enter the world of The House of Fear. These are good, old fashioned spooky stories with a modern take. There are various themes that seem innocent (leaves, teeth, fishing, snowmen, trees) but show the sinister side of the mundane. And our host is a man (maybe; maybe not) named Boyle. They are the caretaker of all the […]

“Whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff, I do not know: I scarcely think it is. But this I know: the writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master-something that, at times, strangely wills and works for itself.” – Charlotte Bronte

Heathcliff Redux: A Novella and Stories by Lily Tuck

by Leave a Comment

We have a Heathcliff problem. We fantasize on the regular about a brooding hulk smoldering just out of view. He’s there- he’s part of the nature of the area, and we are going to conquer that nature. We are going to nurture the brutish man. We are going to fix him, and he’s going to rescue us. Except, we know the truth. We are going to ruin ourselves trying to capture him, and it isn’t going to change him in the slightest. Our narrator in Heathcliff […]

King Midas Must Fail

Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks

by Leave a Comment

My husband received this book as a birthday gift, and I was excited because of my fondness for Tom Hanks. I could quickly name, as many can, beloved movies starring Hanks – Splash, Big, Forrest Gump, A League of their Own… and many more. Since it seems that Hanks has the Midas touch, I was certain I would enjoy his book. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Uncommon Type is a book of fictional short stories, each, in some way, involving a typewriter. I’ve never been a […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo
  3. Google Pay