Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Accept the things you cannot change or change the things you cannot accept?

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

by Leave a Comment

The Memory Police is an unsettling novel. The descriptions I read in advance made it sound a bit like 1984 or Fahrenheit 451. It is a dystopian novel, and it does involve the authoritarian suppression of knowledge and personal freedom, but while I think of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 as “political” science fiction, The Memory Police is not exactly that. The most disturbing acts of suppression in The Memory Police come from within the people themselves. The story is set on an island where some […]

This in’t about adoption

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

by Leave a Comment

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 […]

“I wasn’t just going to abandon you, Carl,” Donut said. “Who do you think I am? Miss Beatrice?”

The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

by 1 Comment

Carl, Donut and Mongo have made it to the fourth level of the dungeon. This time, there are trains. So many trains. The game appears to have constructed a labyrinthine tangle of all of the world’s underground railway systems, and there are new and strange rules to get used to. There are bounties awarded to anyone who kills any of the players in the top ten, which now include both Carl and Donut. There are all manner of strange monsters on the various trains and […]

Still Holds Up Over a Decade Later

The Passage by Justin Cronin

by 2 Comments

I read these books as they came out but it’s been quite a while since I read the first one now, and I remember it leaving a huge impression so I have been wanting to do a re-read now that I can read the entire trilogy relatively close together (plus, does seem to go with my 2025 theme of dystopian/apocalyptic). I had forgotten that this novel and The Strain came out around the same time (The Strain actually has the earlier publication date) but both […]

Well, I had an experience.

DAYGLOAYHOLE #1 by Ben Passmore

by Leave a Comment

I was not going to review DAYGLOAYHOLE #1 by Ben Passmore. Mostly because I really disliked it. I mean I cannot stress how much I really disliked this book. The second reason is you can only get this book via Silver Sprocket’s website. This is probably because it is more of a zine or comic book store comic (so I guess you might be able to locate it at your local comic store), and less of a traditional graphic novel.  But when I realized that […]

Allegory of power

Pigeons!: A Fable For Our Times by Marc Chalvin

by Leave a Comment

If I have one complaint about Pigeons!: A Fable For Our Times by Marc Chalvin (due December 2025, read via an oline reader) is that the people who need to read this book, won’t. This is the commentary about what is happening today. It comes out and tells us how the Dictator will use anything he can to stay in power. It comes out and tells us there are well meaning people, but they are missing a few pieces of the puzzle. And those who […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo