Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Facing the Dark

The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag

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The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag A lot is going on in this book. It is not easy, not even smooth. Things go up and down and around. There is commentary on life, love, family, friends and self. But to talk about it means telling you the whole book, which you need to experience yourself. Ages at least 14 and up, very mature themes and several potential trigger situations. The flow of the book is quick, but sometimes that makes a mess. I had […]

“A friend in need is a friend indeed, a friend who bleeds is better”

Workhorse (2025) by Caroline Palmer

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It’s been a weird year–a lot of work stress, some painful if not acute health stuff,  a lot of messy emotional knots, or perhaps unraveling, a lot of therapy, and reader’s block. But in the last days of the dying year, I did two things I have not done for a long time, one of which was stay up most of the night to finish a book. And that book was Caroline Palmer’s Workhorse, which I picked up in hardback on Christmas Eve because I […]

Ghostbusting with your dad can get embarrassing

Ghost Roast by Shawneé Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs

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Written by Shawneé Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs, and illustrated by Emily Cannon, Ghost Roast is a young adult graphic novel about a Black teenager forced to hunt ghosts with her dad. Chelsea has finally made friends with the cool kids at school. But their sneaking out to party ways land her in hot water. Her mom is disappointed, and as punishment to earn back her parents’ trust, she is grounded and forced to work at Ghost Roast, her dad’s ghostbusting business. He is more than a […]

They are Irumaiyimai இருமை (Irumai)

Bad Queer by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan

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Disclaimer: I hope I got the title correct, if not blame Google! The book Bad Queer will make you think. Author, Gayathiri Kamalakanthan, makes a lot of things happen all at once. On one level things are familiar as this is nothing more than a coming of age story. This is a story where we all can relate to such issues as situations with family, friendships and possible lovers.  But there is more to things on top of that. It is also a queer person’s […]

“If a book is well-written, I always find it too short”

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

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4.5 stars CBR17 Bingo: Black (a book with a black cover) I had completely forgotten that I read and reviewed this book back in 2016. My original review can be found here. My plot summary of the more than 200-year-old novel can be found in my previous review. Nevertheless, my reading experience this time around was different enough from earlier times that I wanted to write about some of my thoughts and observations, not to mention some of the points of discussion that came up during my […]

PUUUUNK!

Be Your Own Backing Band by Liz Prince

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The author, Liz Prince, has become a reading staple of late. I have read most (if not all) that is  out there (minus a few things she just illustrated). But when I got Be Your Own Backing Band, I felt that Prince might have had one of her best collections yet. But then again, she could probably write a phone book and I would read it. After I finished, I said, “Keep on coming with the cool and goodness!” This is a look at how […]



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