Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.”

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter: A Novel by Stephen Graham Jones

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The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a wild and bloody novel, and I’ve never read anything quite like it. Stephen Graham Jones takes the vampire story into new territory – late 19th and early 20th century Montana, the Western frontier where whites are violently encroaching and native peoples find their communities and their environment subject to horrendous brutality and destruction. What better or more appropriate way to tell American History than through a horror story. The novel begins in contemporary Wyoming where 42-year-old Communications and Journalism […]

“…your ambitions are a feast, Amina Al-Sirafi…”

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

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I’ve seen Shannon Chakraborty’s The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi on a lot of book lists as an entertaining fantasy novel not to miss, and it has been given good reviews here on CBR, too. I enjoyed it immensely and was excited to see that a sequel, The Tapestry of Fate, is coming out on May 12. Based on The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, I would imagine that several more novels will be forthcoming. If they are as imaginative and well written as this one, I […]

Smashing the patriarchy is a brutal business

The Poet Empress: A Novel by Shen Tao

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I picked up this novel based on Narfna’s recommendation, and I’m glad I did. This is an intense fantasy novel about power, magic, literacy and women. And as Narfna says, it is NOT romantasy, no matter how it might be marketed. This is Shen Tao’s debut novel, and she warns readers that it contains violence, sexual abuse, and torture, and some of this involves children. It can be a lot but if you can handle it, it’s worth the ride. The Poet Empress is set […]

“The dream dies. Which leaves you with a choice: you can settle for reality, or you can go off, like a fool, and dream another dream.”

Heartburn: A Novel by Nora Ephron

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Heartburn is a short humorous novel about an unfunny topic — a marriage falling apart. It is based on true events — Ephron’s marriage to Carl Bernstein and his infidelity. The main character and narrator is Rachel Samstat, a cookbook author and TV personality married to Mark Feldman, a prominent syndicated journalist. Both Rachel and Mark are on their second marriages, and Rachel is pregnant with their second child when she discovers Mark’s infidelity. This novel is about her reaction to that discovery and the […]

“…there are two things I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine.”

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki

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I learned about this book and its author from a recent Guardian interview. In it, Asako Yuzuki reveals that when she wrote both Butter and her novel Hooked, (English translation due out this month), she was very angry, especially about sexism and fat shaming in Japan. While Yuzuki’s books have been very popular in Japan and around the world, they have also been criticized in Japan for being too feminist. I found this novel to be a real eye opener. While I had been aware […]

For those with a literary sweet tooth

Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel by Shelby Van Pelt

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Remarkably Bright Creatures is a best selling novel that is apparently being turned into a movie starring Sally Field. I’m sure it will be very sweet because the story is cute/nice/sweet — choose your bland compliment. It was fine and a quick read, but I just didn’t love it. The character development (or lack thereof) was probably the biggest obstacle for me, and that issue contributed to a pretty thin plot in places.  The story is told by three narrators. Cameron Cassmore is a 30-year-old […]



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