Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

My favorite potter on reread

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

by Leave a Comment

I think this was the book in the series I had the hardest time putting down the second time through.  After Harry Potter and the Whiny Depression that was Order of the Phoenix, this felt like a return to form.  We have the adventurous Harry from the earlier books back, with the adult stakes that rise with each series entry. The central mystery – who is the Half Blood Prince – managed to be just as exciting the second time around, even if I remembered […]

Eat slugs, Malfoy.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2) by J.K. Rowling

by 13 Comments

This little beginning of the month Harry Potter re-read is turning out to be quite delightful. Normally I just mainline them as fast as I can back to back. But new month, new Harry Potter book to read, is a nice change! A little trip to Hogwarts to start February off right. I’m going to continue with the format I used last go-round, since it was pretty stress-free, and didn’t involve a heck of a lot of thought. Plus, my usual tactic with reviews is to focus […]

Fun but ultimately unfulfilling

Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide by J.K. Rowling

by 1 Comment

As a huge Harry Potter fan, there was no way I was skipping this book, which is essentially a collection of information from Pottermore, the official website dedicated to all things Harry Potter. I’ve read other supplemental texts affiliated with the series, but this feels like the least substantial of them all. The story is a small guide to Hogwarts – how to get there, fun facts about the school and its inhabitants – presented both as general information, and then commented on by Rowling […]

I spent New Year’s Day in Hogwarts.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1) by J.K. Rowling

by 14 Comments

First of all I have read this book more times than I can count, literally. I know I’ve read this first one at least twelve times because that’s how many copies of it I own, but that is a gross underestimate because many of those copies I have read multiple times (especially the battered paperback I still have from 1999). I also used to re-read every year, and every time a new book in the series came out, so I’ve read this one the most. My OCD […]

I mean, it WAS

by 2 Comments

So yes, my bingo square for “The Book Was Better” was indeed filled by a better book than a movie, but I tried to make it the fairest fight in the Harry Potter series; I wonder how much better the movies would have been with Alfonso Cuaron behind the camera for all of them. The filmed sequences that stood out for me were Buckbeak’s execution, the first appearance of the Dementors, and the staging of the adventures with the Time Turner, but honestly, this is […]

Better than the Potter comparison

by 1 Comment

I read this book because I started following Dr. Okorafor on Twitter a few years ago.  I don’t remember exactly what made me decide to follow her but I do know that part of it was due to my desire to avoid insularity.  That and I’d heard great things about her books.  I’ve already read the first two novellas in her Binti series; the third won a Hugo Award this year! Akata Witch, if I were to grossly over simplify, is a different take on […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo