Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

I Thought There’d be More Unicorn.

The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden

by Leave a Comment

Arden has returned to mixing historical fiction with fantasy again. This time insead of medieval Russia, Arden is taking inspiration from the life of the last heiress of Brittany—before France married her off to force a union between the two crowns. The historical Anne of Brittany didn’t exactly have the happiest of lives, but maybe in retelling, things may go differently? The first half of the book did an excellent job pulling me in: Anne is in a precarious position; she knows France is trying to […]

One of my year’s best already?

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

by Leave a Comment

This historic drama has all the elements I love about a book – great characters and a compelling story that we follow through several generations of the same family, from Korea to Japan and beyond. In the background of Pachinko is Japan’s occupation of Korea and the experience of Koreans in Japan before, during, and after this occupation. We begin in the 1880s in Korea. Hoonie is the son of parents who run a boardinghouse for fisherman. Their lives are meager, but stable. Hoonie eventually […]

Not all heroes wear capes, but some do!

Cape by Kate Hannigan

by Leave a Comment

I picked this up mainly for the cover.  It is bright and makes me think the story inside is going to be exciting.  And it is! Our story follows Josie O’Malley, an Irish-American (I think she’s an immigrant, but she might be first-generation.)  She spends her time working at a diner to help out with the household expenses, which is a big help since her father is fighting in WWII.  She is also trying to control her temper while trying to fight the injustices she […]

Bad Impulses

by Leave a Comment

Although I have a “To Read” list on Goodreads and have books and authors scribbled down on the backs of various envelopes and whatnot, I am also a pretty impulsive reader. Especially at my favorite local used book store.  It’s a wonderful place where they give you credit for any books you bring in and also offer a 50% discount when you use that trade credit.  When I’m there, I completely ignore my scribbles and my “To Read” list and just buy books on impulse. […]

A future past where you become plant, clone, or cyborg when you die

by Leave a Comment

The first few books are fun historical fiction adventure, steampunk; I haven’t read book 3 yet, but 1 and 2 are pretty good. The 4th gets a little dark but remains mostly similar. This one gets dystopic and loses the fun. Nearly every major character is killed off and brought back as a plant, descendant, cyborg, or clone, or a combination of the above. It gets stupid and meaningless. Burton and Spring-heeled Jack are both back and neither one has a clear head. Jack can’t […]

A Finishing School of Covert *itchcraft and Social Wizardry

by 1 Comment

I had a harder time getting into this book as I have with other series buy the same author. I did eventually start to like the characters once they got to the school and some of the events leading up to the arrival were better explained. The encounter with flywaymen made little sense at first given that I had no idea what they were and the other characters hadn’t been especially well detailed at this early point. The explanation provided during the attack just didn’t […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo