Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“His memory, like the world’s, was getting spotty.”

Hiroshima by John Hersey

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Originally a long-form article written in 1946, this is the story of six survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, with a follow up from decades on documenting the ups and downs of the survivors’ lives. This far on from the event, the enormity of the effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is commonly known, even if it’s still playing out even today. As such it’s rather hard to fully understand how much of a sensation this book was at the time […]

The book I didn’t think I’d like, read anyway, and was delightfully surprised by the results

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

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The publisher description of “With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner Satoru as they take to the road on a journey…” is the perfect way to describe The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (translated by Philip Gabriel). And I thought that before I was even halfway through. I am now (as I start this review) a little over halfway through and it is still perfect. The emotion of the story is soft, but intense as […]

Not a buddy movie

Stray by Ryu Kamio

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Reading via an online reader copy is sometimes hard for me. But I persevere and just keep swimming, I mean reading. But with Stray there was the added issue of a big ol’ “watermark” in the middle of things. Nope, they did not want people copying the manga comic by Ryu Kamio and illustrator Nakamura Yuu. Plus, it is manga and therefore, the flow is off for my western eyes to start. With that said, a few days after starting, I finished this Yakuza meets […]

I like cats. And drawings.

The Boy Who Drew Cats: A Japanese Folktale by Lafcadio Hearn

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There are three main times when I swear. In no particular order, when I am tired and/or mad; when I want to make a point and when something is just so fudging (only I didn’t say fudge) good. And The Boy Who Drew Cats: A Japanese Folktale by Lafcadio Hearn is one of those fudging good books. Amazing story, amazing illustrations, amazing feeling to it, even an amazing back story of the author. Perhaps more for adults (collectors of art books, of Japanese folk tales, […]

Appreciating an attractive middle-aged woman is one of the great luxuries in life.

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

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She was truly a beautiful girl. I could feel a small polished stone sinking through the darkest waters of my heart. All those deep convoluted channels and passageways, and yet she managed to toss her pebble right down to the bottom of it all. ― Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance Sometimes when I’m with you. I remember the things I lost when I was your age. Like I remember the sound of the rain and the smell of the wind. And it’s really a gift, […]

Pay no attention to the elephant behind the curtain

Strange Pictures by Uketsu

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A Tokyo student named Shuhei Sasaki, interested in all things paranormal and otherwise spooky, disovers a mysterious blog, last updated a decade ago. In it, a man who calls himself Raku, describes the pregnancy his wife, Yuki. A second story is about a young boy who goes missing; a third one about an arts teacher who is slain whilst camping out on a mountain. How are they linked? The reader is invited to scrutinise the pictures that the victims drew and to see if they […]



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