Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Apocalypse (S)now – The End of the World at the end of the world

Moon on the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

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There’s a moment in the ’90s movie Independence Day where the Americans lead the charge against the alien invaders by rallying the various nations of the world together. In its rally-raising way, you can almost see the cultural change that came in the following decades. The move away from the centering of Western perspectives to a blend of voices which better represent the world as it is that’s still happening. This book feels like it’s sitting in that ’90s apocalypse window, where the enemy was […]

The Outsiders

She Who Became the Sun: The Radiant Emperor Duology Book One by Shelley Parker-Chan

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Beginning in 1340s China, She Who Became the Sun opens with a 10 year old girl, never named, living in utter poverty in a small village. She has already lost her mother and several siblings to starvation. The girl, her father and an older brother named Zhu are the only survivors. Zhu was meant to be sent to a monastery when he was old enough, and a fortune teller predicted greatness for him, but for the little girl he predicted, literally, nothing. Yet the girl […]

When the source material lets you down

Hopscotch by Brian Garfield

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A few weeks ago I wrote about how delighted I am when I read the source material for a beloved movie and it turns out that the movie was a fantastic adaptation of a fantastic novel. I had a less rewarding experience with Hopscotch, which is rather a dull but light spy thriller written in 1975 and adapted into a charming (if dated) comedy action film starring Walter Matthau in 1980. The novel is about CIA field agent Miles Kendig, who is being forced into […]

Sometimes, a book cover promises cats and lies. This book, on the other hand, delivers in spades. SO many cats, guys.

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

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4.5 stars Nowhere Book Bingo 26: A book involving animals Monthly Keyword Challenge 26: Cat Official plot summary, because I finished this back in February, and my perimenopausal brain isn’t exactly helping here: Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life, and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for stray cats. Now it’s the shelter that needs a new home. And the only landlord who will rent a […]

The Sorry State of the Modern Malaise Novel

A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee

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The more I read of a particular genre of modern literature, the more it feels the same. The genre is a relative recent one, looking at well-off white people experiencing a midlife change, usually precipitated by crisis. There’s a familiar pattern to the plots which goes beyond typical story beats and almost down to the sentence level. There’s almost a “find & replace” element to them. A few manage to rise above this but most are middling, not bad but not lyrically rich. A Thousand […]

Exciting historical fiction for the kids

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

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The Bletchley Riddle, a novel for readers age 10-14, was co-written by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. The two authors take turns writing chapters from the points of view of 14-year-old Lizzie (Sepetys) and her 19-year-old brother Jakob (Sheinkin). It’s a fast-paced, thrilling and educational mystery/spy novel set in the early days of WWII at Great Britain’s top secret location for code breaking — Bletchley Park. Sepetys and Sheinkin include tons of fascinating historical facts and real historical figures in their story. When the story […]



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