Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

My most surprising 5-star read of the year (also Cannonball, finally)

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

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Monthly Keyword 26: Bright Reading the Rainbow: Yellow CBR18 Bingo: Versus (The brave, tenacious and determined women vs the spineless and depraved serial killer Official plot synopsis: Tallahassee, 1978. Sorority president Pamela Schumacher wakes to a shocking scene of implausible violence and death, and is drawn into a mystifying crime that grips the nation for decades . . . In Seattle, Tina Cannon connects her best friend’s disappearance to the Tallahassee tragedy, and is convinced that a single man is responsible. Determined to find justice, […]

Children’s books were different in the 70s

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

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CBR18 BINGO: Joker, because Mr. Fox is a bit of a joker I was looking for a short diversion recently, and while skimming our collection of Roald Dahl, I realized I had never read Fantastic Mr. Fox, though I have seen the delightful stop-motion animated film by Wes Anderson. I know enough about Dahl to realize this could be a wild ride, so I was curious. The plot is simple: Mr. Fox (who is very dapper!) lives with his wife and 4 children. Every night […]

“Or just another lost angel, city of night”

L. A. Women (2025) by Ella Berman

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I picked this book up because I liked the font, and the colours, and I’m fascinated by Los Angeles (where, of course, I’ve never been), and its foggy shadows and neon gleam: the films, the music, the messy myths and sprawling stories. The story here is a little Natalie Beach/Caroline Calloway if they lived in the 1960s-1970s, haunting Laurel Canyon instead of Cambridge and New York. Berman’s story centres on Gala and Lane, the friend with the glitter, the friend in the shadows, and the […]

A perfectly fine book, just not for me.

Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson

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Honestly, this is a good book, and I knew when I bought it that things might turn out this way, but I wanted to give it a shot. This is a vampire story, and above all, a story of revenge. I enjoy a good revenge story now and then, but this is the type I do not care for: one that takes its characters to places they cannot come back from. Also, depressing. Specifically: SPOILERS their journey of vengeances leads our two main characters, an […]

“I don’t know if any of the people we know are suspicious or whether they’re just trying to live their lives.”

The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey

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Thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Media | Tantor Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. I’m a little annoyed that this was marketed as a mystery when it is very much not, but it was a very good book, so I can’t in the end remain annoyed. I just wish I’d been able to set my expectations accordingly. This is, in fact, historical fiction that errs into literary territory on occasion, with a smidgeon of crime for light flavor. This takes place […]

“Now all I can see is the longing. Not only for companionship, but for community. He’s looking for people like him. It’s very touching, and very familiar, isn’t it?”

After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian

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Nothing like starting off the new year with a five star read. I will admit I was hoping for this outcome when I picked it for my first book of the year. Cat Sebastian is increasingly becoming known for atmospheric, historically rich, community-focused, and quietly revolutionary little books. I wanted a lovely time full of lovely people that would take me away to a time in history that reflects pieces of our own Current Times while still being an escape hatch from reality. You don’t […]



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