Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Women talking, getting comfortable with anger

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

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I picked up Miriam Toews’ newest novel, Women Talking, in the airport recently. I felt very lucky because it ticked so many boxes for me – I had run out of reading material on a work trip so really needed a book, it was in those new resell displays at the news stand so it was discounted enough to get through my NO NEW BOOK PURCHASES embargo, it fits with my vow to read more Canadian literature, and it was published in 2018. Toews has included a note at the beginning of the novel, characterizing it as a fictional reaction […]

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9/23/2018 's CBR10 Review No:21 |

This one I read in 24 hours

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

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I bought this book on a camping trip stopover a few years ago. I wanted to read it so badly, but was always waiting for what seemed like the right time; some books are like that for me. It has been sitting in my TBR pile ever since and it finally felt right to read it this last week, a reward for finally finishing a book I really struggled through. It was an excellent reward; I haven’t been this obsessed with finishing a book since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released. Sherman Alexie has written a book that […]

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9/23/2018 's CBR10 Review No:20 |

I should have enjoyed this more than I did

Yiddish for Pirates by Gary Barwin

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This book feels like it is right up my alley – it’s written a Canadian author, it’s clever and well thought out, there is humour, it was nominated for Canadian literature awards. It’s BAIT, but I just struggled to force myself through it after it sitting on my TBR pile for two years. The narrator here is a 500 year old parrot named Aaron, telling the part of his life story he values the most. He tells of “his shoulder,” a young Jewish man named Moishe who escapes the shetl in search of a wider world, in search of hope, […]

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9/17/2018 's CBR10 Review No:19 |

I know why, but why?

No Way Down by Graham Bowley

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I saw this book on Instagram, maybe through the CBR account, and was suddenly desperate to get it. I am not a mountain climber nor am I a follower of mountain climbing exploits, I don’t read an enormous amount of non-fiction, and when I do, it’s not generally DISASTER non-fiction. And yet, I saw this and immediately put in a reserve request at the library. I suspect the last mountain climbing book I read was Jim Curran’s K2: Triumph and Tragedy., which examined the 1986 disaster on K2 during which 13 people died in the worst climbing disaster on K2 […]

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8/18/2018 's CBR10 Review No:15 |

It just feels young to me

The Sun and her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

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Do you remember that discussion on the internet about how the world at large is always so eager to dismiss and mock the things that young girls love? I think about that a lot, and have tried harder to not do that myself. So, when I heard Rupi Kaur reading her poems on CBC Radio, talking about her youth and success and her dreams, I decided to give The Sun and her Flowers a try. This is Rupi Kaur’s second book; her first book Milk and Honey was an enormous success, selling over 2.5 million copies. I think that is […]

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8/14/2018 's CBR10 Review No:14 |

Sanderson is getting Martinitis with the Stormlight Archive

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

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You guys, this book is long. LOOOOOONNNGGGG. It took me over a month to read half of it – I took it out from the library months ago, there was a reserve on it so I couldn’t renew it, and had to pick it back up four months later and I STILL struggled to read it on time, despite being very eager to finish the story. While it’s not quite into Game of Thrones territory in terms of needing edits, but it’s in the ballpark. It’s long, guys. This third in Sanderson’s Stormlight trilogy finds the characters piecing their way […]

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7/23/2018 's CBR10 Review No:12 |

All these years later, I find my anger

Unless by Carol Shields

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When the CBR team talked on Facebook about highlighting Canadian books for Canada Day, I went down a rabbit hole with some of the CanLit on my bookshelves. I have been mired in a Brandon Sanderson behemoth, but decided to quickly write up a review of one that I could both reread relatively quickly and hadn’t read in some time. I sat there, and Unless was right in front of my eyes, having been untouched for probably ten years. So here we are. The interesting thing about growing up Canadian in the 80s is how much disdain I generally felt […]

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7/1/2018 's CBR10 Review No:11 |

A sweet goodbye

On the Move by Oliver Sacks

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I have been a fan of Oliver Sacks and his writing for decades. When that first beautiful NYT article came out in early 2015 and revealed he was dying from cancer, I essentially hid my head in the sand and refused to read anything else from him for a long time. He was warm and kind and insightful and passionate and I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye. The day of Anthony Bourdain’s death, I walked into my library and On the Move was sitting there on the staff recommendations shelf and I knew it was time. It was just […]

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6/22/2018 's CBR10 Review No:10 |


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