Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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When Fiction Gets A Little Too Real

Good Girls Don’t Die by Christina Henry

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Good Girls Don’t Die follows three characters—Celia, Allie, and Maggie—who find themselves in strange situations that seem to be the sort of scenarios you would find in novels that the characters happen to be fans of.  Some background around what the characters read is provided at the start of each chapter, via message board-looking posts where book genres are discussed.  The book is split into four parts, with the first three sections following one of the women as she tries to figure out what is […]

“The feeling was so strong, so absolute. There was something out there, and it was watching me, and it was hungry.”

Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Christina Henry

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In one word: Puzzling It’s been a minute since I picked up a horror book and grabbed this one on a whim at my local library. I mean, check out that gorgeous cover! We apparently aren’t supposed to judge books by them, but this one snagged my attention. I was very intrigued by the premise of a continuation of the Sleepy Hollow mythos, set thirty years after the horseman allegedly ran Ichabod Craine out of town. Henry starts strong by fitting her story and characters […]

the december rush

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

The Haunting of Gillespie House by Darcy Coates

Your Fathers, Where Are They? And Your Prophets, Do They Live Forever? by Dave Eggers

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens

The Lightness by Emily Temple

The Very Nice Box by Eve Gleichman, Laura Blackett

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

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Franny, Jet, and Vincent Owens take special joy in disobeying their mother’s rules. They wear red shoes and black clothes. They read books about magic. They fall in love. It’s the Lower East Side in the 60s. Who can blame them? I didn’t realize this was a prequel. I just picked it up at an airport bookstore when I had 3 hours to kill and a low phone battery. I’m grateful this is the only book that called out to me. I’m always drawn to […]

Taking a “Dark Take” on a Children’s Classic to the Extreme

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Bingo Square (Round 2): And So It Begins I am not sure why I keep trying adaptations of Alice in Wonderland.  I didn’t have enough of a connection to the original story or movie as a child to get all the references.  It was the one Disney movie that scared the hell out of me as a child, and which I refused to re-watch (or my parents never showed again, not wanting to deal with the aftermath).  I was less than enthralled with Splintered (though I […]

“This Isn’t a Wonderful Place for Boys to Play and Have Adventures”

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Earlier this year I read another one of Christina Henry’s novels, The Mermaid, which is also a reimagining of a classic story or myth (in that case, of PT Barnum’s infamous Feejee Mermaid). While it was a good read though not super captivating, upon looking at some of Henry’s other works, I was drawn in by a series of covers for the UK versions of her various novels to date, which included this one pictured for Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook. And you know […]

Oh, the Many Cages We Find Ourselves In

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Coincidentally the second piece of media released recently that I’ve taken in having to do with the historical figure of PT Barnum; one more and it’s a pattern. But in The Mermaid, the story is not per say about him, but rather about a fictional recounting of a mermaid who finds herself in his exploitative employ (inspired by the infamous Fiji mermaid hoax). But despite the magical elements therein, this novel is more of an introspective exploration of personhood, freedom, and human cruelty. The Mermaid begins with […]



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