Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Monster, or just another kid?

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri

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Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty is a graphic novel by G. Neri that is based on actual events. This is the story of how 11-year-old Roger (a fictional character) tries to make sense of the death of Robert “Yummy” Sandifer. Also 11-years-old. Also living in Chicago. A kid who was as sweet as the candy that gave him his nickname. A kid who would burn up a car if the owner disrespected him. A kid who called his grandmother home. A kid […]

An Alien Murder Mystery Set in Chicago

Awaken Me Darkly by Gena Showalter

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I hadn’t read anything from Gena Showalter and decided to take on Awaken Me Darkly. The salacious cover reminded me of the Silk Stalkings series on USA Network, which I adore and own several seasons on DVD. I didn’t know anything about the Alien Huntress series but I was game to dive into the audiobook. In this first book of the series, we meet Mia Snow, a rising star in the Chicago PD. She runs the Alien Investigation and Removal team of agents. They hunt alien […]

A First Lady to Remember

Becoming by Michelle Obama

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Michelle Obama’s Becoming was an inspirational memoir to experience. I gave the audiobook to my mom for Christmas, but ended up borrowing and reading it myself! I had very high expectations for this book. It ended up being more of an emotional journey than I imagined. The Former First Lady recounts her childhood and her family. She goes into great detail of all the sacrifices her parents made for her and her brother in Chicago. My parents are both from nearby Indiana and  Chicago is […]

Where the Gin is Cold

Murder Knocks Twice by Susanna Calkins

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Read this one with my wife. This is our co-review. I liked it well enough for a first book in the series, though I’m not sure I’ll continue. Susanna Calkins gets the era well enough without having to resort to too many cliches. I like the world she builds and the mystery is interesting enough, if not overly complex. After a rocky start, it really catches itself and I was engaged to the end. The problem I had with the story, and the reason why […]

My Kind of Town, Chicago is…

In A Pig's Eye by Robert Campbell

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In a time before both Amazon and GoodReads reviews became omnipresent, a person would pick something off the shelf because it interested them. They didn’t cross consult a third party to see if it would be worth their time, they just grabbed it and hoped for the best. I confess that I sometimes miss living in the stone age. I took a chance on this one after seeing it for $3 in the discount section at my favorite bookstore: The Mysterious in lower Manhattan. Rarely […]

A Must Read if you live in, have been to, or are interested in Chicago

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A little over a year ago I left the balmy southern United States for the snowy Midwest, Chicago suburbs to be specific, so, this book quickly climbed to the top of my “to read” pile. How could I live here and not tackle Larson’s fantastic telling of such a pivotal point in the city’s history? I knew I had made the correct choice when I found no less than seven copies at my local library.  Definite move toward further acclimation to my new home, though […]



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