Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Famous Last Words

Looking for Alaska by John Green

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Bingo Square: Banned Books There are a few categories on the Bingo board that have looked slightly more homework like to me than others, and I had the feeling Banned Books was going to be one of them.  Fortunately for me, the Top Ten Most Challenged lists of books contain quite a few modern YA novels because of course teachers would want to include current novels to appeal to their students. I had already read a few of them, and some of the choices were skewed a bit younger than I wanted to go, so after years of being contrarian […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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8/5/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:19 |

“I was so good at being a kid, and so terrible at being whatever I was now.”

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

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How is it that a middle-aged man is able to express the inner workings of an anxious teenage girl so well? The only writing I know is to “write what you know”, so it always blows me away when authors are able to so skilfully step into the shoes of the unfamiliar. In “Turtles All The Way Down”, John Green has captured my heart again. Reading this novel is like stepping into a time machine: when your Mom is like a loving but frustrating alien, your best friend is your universe, and the boy you like is simultaneously enchanting and […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

Share the post "“I was so good at being a kid, and so terrible at being whatever I was now.”"

7/10/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:14 |

“The thing about a spiral is, if you follow it inward, it never actually ends. It just keeps tightening, infinitely.”

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

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I’ve read a lot of YA the last few weeks and constantly found myself comparing them to the YA master, John Green, so the natural next step was to reread some Green’s books. I really enjoyed Turtles All the Way Down when I read it the first go around during CBR9. Back in 2017 John Green hadn’t published anything in over five years so perhaps in my hunger for new J.G. YA I was not as critical as I could have been and posted an effusive five star review that, while I don’t regret it, would probably make some edits to […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

Share the post "“The thing about a spiral is, if you follow it inward, it never actually ends. It just keeps tightening, infinitely.”"

6/2/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:58 |

“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t”

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

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Aza Holmes doesn’t have a lot of friends, and her best friend Daisy, a gregarious and outgoing fan fiction writer, sometimes finds her a bit exhausting. This is not surprising, as Aza struggles with anxiety and OCD. When local billionaire Russell Davis Picket goes missing and there is a reward offered for news of his whereabouts, Daisy remembers that Aza knows his son. Daisy orchestrates a scenario so that Aza can reconnect with Davis, who she hasn’t seen for a few years. Aza and Davis met at a camp for children who’d lost parents. Aza’s father died, as did Davis’ […]

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9/13/2018 's CBR10 Review No:79 |

Episode 1-31: Just the Beasts Under Your Bed, In Your Closet, In Your Head

The Golem and the Jinni, Serpentine, The Sellout, Turtles All the Way Down, Sweet Lamb of Heaven, Kings of the Wyld, The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Helene Wecker, Laurell K. Hamilton, Paul Beatty, John Green, Lydia Millet, Nicholas Eames, Jason Arnopp

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Episode 1-31: Just The Beasts Under Your Bed, In Your Closet, In Your Head Wherein I review: 119. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker 120. Serpentine (Anita Blake #26) by Laurell K. Hamilton 121. The Sellout by Paul Beatty 122. Turtles All The Way Down by John Green 123. Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet 124. Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames 125. The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp Helene Wecker gives us a historical love story between two servant myths. Laurell K. Hamilton comes back and sets Anita Blake against every sh–ty person […]

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8/26/2018 's CBR10 Review No:125 |

It’s a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don’t give it the power to do its killing.

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

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CBR10Bingo – So Popular! Here’s my confession: I don’t think I liked this novel very much. For starters, I am not a huge fan of YA books in general. I appreciate them in a lot of ways, and I own plenty and supply them to my teenagers readily. So mostly it’s a matter of me not choosing to read them much. And this book is perfectly good. It’s readable, it’s charming, it’s smart; but I also think it’s ham-fisted at times and manipulative throughout. Given that it leans on the concept of “Cancer Perks” throughout, ie the little extra things […]

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8/8/2018 's CBR10 Review No:297 |

Nothing to do with turtles, really

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

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I don’t profess to be the picture of mental health, but overall I’d say I don’t have a lot of experience with depression, anxiety, or any other mental disorders. Maybe it’s my WASPy suppressive tendencies? In our YA book club, the woman who suggested John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down described it as “the best depiction of anxiety” she’d ever seen, so I was intrigued. Turtles tells the story of Aza, a young woman dealing (poorly, but trying) with serious anxiety and OCD. Aza’s best friend Daisy convinces her to help discover the location of a missing local billionaire […]

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6/20/2018 's CBR10 Review No:22 |

“We’re here because we’re here because we’re here because we’re here…”

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

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“The thing about a spiral is, if you follow it inward, it never actually ends. It just keeps tightening, infinitely…” It’s hard to believe that The Fault in Our Stars came out five years ago! I didn’t even realize how much I missed John Green until I started Turtles All the Way Down. Maybe I never mentioned this before, but I love John Green. All of his books are fantastic, as you can see from my reviews of: The Fault in Our Stars, An Abundance of Katherines, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Paper Towns (I have also read Looking for […]

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2/4/2018 's CBR10 Review No:1 |


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