Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“I guess we’re almost friends now, or as friendly as you can get when you’re not one hundred percent sure the other person isn’t framing you for murder.” (Blackout Bingo Card)

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

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4.5 stars CBR17 Bingo: School (The Breakfast Club with murder. So much high school drama) On a Monday afternoon, five high schoolers find themselves in detention after someone planted phones in their bags. They all claim the phones are not theirs, but the teacher is not listening. There is Cooper, the star athlete, with a promising career in baseball ahead of him. There is Addy, always perfectly put together and the homecoming princess. There is Nate, the school’s bad boy, who is on probation for […]

“I’m afraid I don’t know WTF. I only discovered LOL from Joyce last week” (Double Bingo)

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

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CBR17 Bingo: White (a book with a white cover) In a charming retirement village somewhere in the south of England, four elderly individuals solve cold cases for fun. Retired nurse, Joyce, is the last to be inducted into “The Thursday Murder Club”, as they are in need of some of her medical expertise in trying to solve their most recent case. Led by the formidable Elizabeth, who used to be a spy, aided and abetted by Ibrahim, a retired psychologist and Ron, a former trade union […]

Football Season

One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller

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Read as part of cbr17bingo: school setting. The book takes place mostly at a high school, revolving around a football team.  In reading about the lives of trans people, fictional and otherwise, the thing they want most is to be treated normally. Obviously, it’s difficult to do on the one hand with the whole country lurching from mild acceptance of trans people to full-on hostility against them. But it’s also difficult when dealing with the well-intentioned, supportive ally crowd who just wants to let them […]

“The AUDACITY of society to infuse ‘manhood’ into a child’s life.”

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

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I read this “memoir-manifesto” during Banned Books Week, and at one point while I was looking up something about it, I saw that a school board member had filed a complaint with the sheriff’s office after finding this book in a few school libraries. Yes – she basically called the cops on a book. And an important book, at that. It was a stark reminder of why it’s so important to read banned books, not just during one week in October, but year round. And […]

Gals being literary rivals, then pals, then more?

Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti

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Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. Lady Georgiana Cleeve was disowned by her father when she announced that she was the author of several popular novels, and has lived alone with her mother ever since, cut off from all contact with her brothers, convinced that the scandal she brought on herself and her family would irrevocably tarnish the reputations of anyone connected to her. She is selling well and her books are popular, but for […]

“You take a bunch of people who don’t seem any different from you and me, but when you add them all together you get this sort of huge raving maniac with national borders and an anthem.” (Bingo)

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

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Nowhere Book Bingo 2025: A book with LGBTQIA-rep CBR17 Bingo: Border (this book is all about a very drawn-out war with borders between the opposing countries constantly changing, depending on who’s currently winning) Spoiler warnings for a 22 year old book. I don’t think I can review it well without revealing some of the more essential plot points. Official plot summary: It began as a sudden strange fancy… Polly Perks had to become a boy in a hurry. Cutting off her hair and wearing trousers […]



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