Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Has anyone told you how dramatic you are?

One Day to Fall by Therese Beharrie

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I requested this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review at the same time that I requested Therese Beharrie’s Island Fling with the Tycoon. I’m so glad I was given both books. I follow Beharrie on Twitter, where she is funny and smart. One Day to Fall is so good. It’s out on August 12. Sophia is at the hospital with her mother and younger sister while her older sister is in labor. Parker is at the same hospital where his mother has been treated for injuries […]

First book in a new series

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

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When I first heard that James was writing a fantasy that used African myth, legends, and folklore, I was very excited, so it should be noted I had high expectations of this novel. Also, I love James’ but it takes about 100 or so pages for me to get into his books, but then I can’t put it down. So, here’s the thing – most readers are going to fall into one of two camps with this book – you are either going to love […]

The Ratf#%^ers

The Seersucker Whipsaw by Ross Thomas

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Ratf#%^&ing has been in the news a lot the last couple of years because of the Trump/Russia scandal. Outside influence affecting democratic elections is a time honored tradition, and few are more familiar with it than the United States, which has been practicing it for decades. It’s practically the CIA’s métier at this point. It’s a violent, imperialistic practice ripe for skewing. Enter Ross Thomas. This is one of his earlier novels and apparently it’s influenced by his real life adventures in the African political […]

Why are we born, if not to help each other?

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Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if […]

Everything is awful

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Fresh from finding Dr Livingstone in the Congo, newspaperman Henry Stanley sensed an opportunity and so, in 1877, returned to the Congo to travel through its interior and map its giant river. Despite the mouth to the river having been discovered by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century, until then no outsiders had ever attempted to travel further than the coast. Following the initial routes laid out by the slavers who virtually decimated its coastal communities, Stanley accomplished his mission, opening the interior up to […]

The power of good-bye

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CBR10Bingo: Brain Candy (BINGO!) Before this year, I wasn’t much of a YA reader. I saw myself as more of a Serious Reader, too serious for the frivolity of YA lit. And while my favorite books are still likely to be denser and heavier literary fiction and hard sci-fi, I’ve come to enjoy the balance that YA brings to my library with the quicker read and lighter tone even when the subject matter isn’t so light. Thus, the Brain Candy square was always going to […]



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