Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John Kelly

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CBR17 Bingo: Rec’d – I picked up this book after a recommendation by the true crime podcast Last Podcast on the Left, which used this book as a source for its series on the Black Death. The impact of the Black Death upon medieval Europe was astounding in its scale, but the effects it had on an individual level can get buried under the sheer number of the dead. In this book, author Kelly skillfully excavates them. The Black Death is one of those things […]

Dystopian romance and humanity

Heart Attack by Shawn Kittelsen

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Includes triggers. Not for under aged 14 (and even then, know your reader). I’m rating Heart Attack by Shawn Kittelsen, Eric Zawadzki and Mike Spicer a 4 for several reasons: It is a strong take on what is happening today. It is an interesting story about family (biological and found) and how friendships and love shapes us. It talks about how power and greed corrupts both good and not so good people. And we see how things are not perfect, but humanity does try to […]

A must read for folklore and pop culture enthusiasts

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc

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Amanda Leduc grew up on Disney just like many kids of my generation. But she grew up experiencing it quite uniquely. Leduc has cerebral palsy, so a world where beauty is judged by perfect dainty feet and graceful dancing is a world that doesn’t celebrate her. Disfigured is part memoir, part fairy tale study, and a beautiful thesis for disability justice. Leduc shares her extremely personal experience of being diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a young girl, of navigating bullying and crises of confidence through […]

Absolutely delightful book/audiobook about terrible subjects.

Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright

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Perhaps it is an indicator of my improving mental health (it is), but I really enjoyed this book! In a morbid, worrisome, fun kind of way. Get Well Soon is a book about famous plagues and diseases (and lobotomies? for some reason?) and not only was it a fast, interesting read, it was also funny (obviously, humor is subjective, and I’ve seen several reviews saying the humor missed the mark for them, but it hit 100% for me—it helps that the audiobook narrator, Gabra Zackman, […]

The reviews I forgot to post, part 1!

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

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Somehow I ended up reading three dystopian novels in a row. Maybe not the best choice during an actual pandemic.  Wilder Girls is set in an all-girls boarding school on an isolated island off the coast of Maine.  About a year and a half before the novel starts, something… happened.  A sort of disease that was probably already present on the island suddenly made an evolutionary jump from two species (an iris and a crab) to everything else, including people.  The disease, which they call […]

We learned nothing.

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World by Laura Spinney

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I read The Great Influenza a few months ago after coming across it. I think I would have read it regardless of the current pandemic as I still believe my knowledge of the world in the WWI era to be lacking. The Great Influenza focuses on the Spanish Flu and its impact in the United States. It also details the history of medicine and virology, specifically as it pertains to the flu. The book is long and comprehensive but I really enjoyed it.  It really […]



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