Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Thrill Ride From Start to Finish

Famous Last Words: A Novel by Gillian McAllister

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Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister is a suspenseful, thriller/mystery that had me hooked from page one. I hated to put it down and finished it within two days. I had heard about it from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s substack, a great place to go for book, TV, and movie recommendations. This story involves hostages, murder and the joy of reading, and involves very interesting main characters who struggle with the aftermath of a traumatic event. Camilla is a book editor who loves her job. There’s nothing […]

You know it’s good if they don’t want you to read it

Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink

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Angel of Greenwood is an outstanding YA novel about teenaged love and community set against the backdrop of the 1921 Greenwood Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Greenwood, the “Black Wall Street”, was wiped out in a vicious act of race-based terrorism with businesses looted and destroyed, houses burned to the ground and an actual bomb dropped on the community. This novel came to my attention because a local school district removed it from the 9th grade reading list, sparking protest from students, their parents and faculty. […]

A banned novel about WWI, conscientious objectors and gays

Despised and Rejected by Rose Allatini

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Despised and Rejected is a 1918 novel by Rose Allatini (using the pen name AT Fitzroy) that was banned and pulled off the market for being ‘morally unhealthy’ following a trial of its publisher CW Daniel. The Gay Men’s Press republished the novel in 1988 and the Persephone Press edition that I read came out in 2018. Set during WWI, the novel’s main characters are a bisexual woman named Antoinette and a gay man named Dennis who is also a conscientious objector. The novel begins […]

Losing Oneself in Art

Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama by Yayoi Kusama

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Yayoi Kusama is one of the most prolific and successful artists of our time. This Japanese born creative genius was a major force on the New York art scene in the sixties, producing interactive installations, performance pieces, and a variety of other artistic offerings. Yet most people are probably more familiar with her contemporaries, like Andy Warhol. In this autobiography published in 2002 (English translation in 2012), Kusama provides some information about her childhood and upbringing, but this is mostly the story of her art […]

A haunting story on many levels

Anita de Monte Laughs Last: A Novel by Xochitl Gonzalez

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I read this novel as an e-book purchased through Bookshop.org. If you, like me, have been relying on Kindle e-books for a while and want to stop supporting that dickhead Bezos, check out Bookshop. They have a selection of e-books that is somewhat limited but they are very good offerings nonetheless. Moreover, when you make a purchase, Bookshop will donate a percentage of the sale to the independent bookstore of your choice. Buying books has never felt more virtuous! Anita de Monte Laughs Last is, […]



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