Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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“I think it’s when two people separate that the things they’ve learned through their friendship can really blossom.”

Hooked: A Novel of Obsession by Asako Yuzuki

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Cbr18bingo Friends I reviewed Asako Yuzuki’s novel Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder a few months ago and was very much struck by her portrayal of Japanese society — the sexism, the fat shaming, the anti-feminist sentiment — as well as by her riveting story-telling and characters. Hooked: A Novel of Obsession is even better, in my opinion. This is a novel about relationships amongst women, the difficulties of making friendships once you’ve moved beyond school, and the impact that patriarchy and sexism have […]

Modern meets old-world

Folk Remedy: Book 1 by Jem Yoshioka

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The graphic novel Folk Remedy: Book 1 by Jem Yoshioka is a fun, solid read that is a good book to start your graphic novel reading, expand your fantasy reading with or if you are just looking for an adventure-filled, funny tale. I was not WOWed, but I was never bored. The characters are not fully established, as some background information is missing, but they are also not one dimensional. We know they have a background (just not exactly what) and have hopes and personality […]

“…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 […]

Brutally beautiful historical fantasy

A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang

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I was immediately drawn to this book, but struggled with eyeball reading, so I was so glad when I got an advance listening copy as well, especially so I wouldn’t be butchering the Chinese words and intonations. This is really intense and deals with a lot of really difficult topics, and it’s hard to say any of the characters (though especially Ba) were likable, but the ending left me with a feeling of hope and healing. Told through three (four?) perspectives, A Beast Slinks Towards […]

Contemporary history

Journey to Tomioka by Laurent Galandon

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Journey to Tomioka by Laurent Galandon, translated by Owen Smith and Anne Smith with illustrations by Michaël Crouzat was read via an online reader copy. In June 2026, however, you can find a copy, which I highly recommend. The publisher, First Second, has become one of those publishers for me that I might not always love something they published, in fact, I might not even like it, but I always respect what happened and the time it takes to make something that can be thoughtful, […]

“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 […]



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