Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Prose, poems and stories

A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne

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While there are a lot of new titles out there, I needed to catch up on some older titles. Books, I keep “meaning to read” and never get around too. I picked up A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne. I thought it was a book in verse, but it is more short essays and diary entries. Or as if someone is interviewing the narrator and they are just replying to questions.  Still, it was short and figured […]

A weird heartwarming story about dead people

Hotel Limbo V01 by Ben Harel

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Okay, Hotel Limbo V01 by Ben Harel….  What the h-e-double hockey sticks did I read? This is one confusing, wild, unusual and crazy book. In other words, it is a must read. Okay, readers. I cannot tell you the story. Sure I can but it then tells you everything you would experience and honestly you should go into this book with no preconceptions other than that it is a journey and experience. But I will say we deal with death. Except it’s funny. Until it […]

Just a family tradition

Cemetery Game by Alan Woo and Rachel Wada

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Cemetery Game by Alan Woo and illustrator Rachel Wada is due September 2026 and was read via an online reader.  And now comes the more fun part of the review, but also a bit tricky to write. I was not a huge fan of things. I liked the idea of culture, family and traditions, but it felt flat. I liked the presentation, but the illustrations felt off, like maybe a bit computerized or not fully human formed. Yet, this is a nice book. It introduces […]

The author looks like someone who would write about a pickle

The Wise Pickle by Sarah Howden

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One will never look at a pickle the same way again.  Or you won’t after reading The Wise Pickle by Sarah Howden and illustrated by Sabina Hahn. Due mid/later June 2026 I read this book via an online copy. First, be prepared to witness weirdness. I mean a talking pickle for starters is really just the start of the weirdness. And second, be prepared to be amazed (by the fact there is a talking pickle who is a wise old soul. Or not). And finally […]

This in’t about adoption

Mother Nature by Jamie Lee Curtis, Russell Goldman and Karl Stevens

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SOME SPOILERS and possible triggers (but not as many as are in the book). Sometimes I wonder if people like something because they are “supposed to.” We are “supposed to” like a story about environmentalism. We are “supposed to” like something because the character(s) are of a minority (in Mother Nature by Jamie Lee Curtis, Russell Goldman, and illustrator Karl Stevens they are Native, two characters are queer, and at least two other people are of color). But that does not mean the book will […]

“Nightmares do come true, but never in the shape you expect.”

Hairpin Bridge by Taylor Adams

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Shoutout to BookPage, the free monthly magazine found at all my local libraries, for recommending Taylor Adams’ Hairpin Bridge. This isn’t a book I would have picked up on my own, so it was exciting to expand my horizons with new-to-me author and a darker read than I’m used to. Overall this was a well-written, taut thriller with something meaningful to say about grief. The story begins like all good stories – in a diner. Lena Nguyen, a loner in her twenties, is seeking closure […]



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