Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


1984 meets Dictatorship meets Spies meets one screwed up world

The Shadower by Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey

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When a book is a real gut punch, I can have a hard time writing a review that does that feeling justice. How do I tell others (in writing therefore, not using facial expressions) how I got a sick feeling in my stomach? How I was shocked, amazed, happy, sad, confused, and had a full understanding of things sometimes all at once? When I started The Shadower by Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey I didn’t think I would have that issue, but by the end […]

“I’ve started to think of Earth as a wax cylinder; the sun the needle, laid on the land and drawing out the day’s music—the sound of people arguing, cooking, laughing, singing, moaning, crying, flirting. And behind that, a silent sweep of millions of sleeping people, washing across the Earth like static.”

The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck

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In a “hook-and-chain” couplet structure, Shattuck meanders back and forth across three centuries in New England with six pairs of stories exploring themes that rhyme. This collection starts off pretty slow and gentle, and for the most part stays that way, telling the stories of ordinary people and mostly ordinary happenings. As such, I found myself quite surprised about halfway through about how thoroughly I had been sucked in, and how much I was enjoying myself. Part of what sets this collection of stories apart […]

This isn’t your Happy Days Cunninghams

John of the Night by Darryl Cunningham

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Recently I have read two books that gave me such a stomach ache for all the right and wrong reasons. One of those was John of the Night by Darryl Cunningham. I’ve no idea what I read. But I liked it. I think…. On one level things are really straight forward. We have a superhero-Christ like figure who might be the Anti-Christ, or at least might be working for them as John could be either hero, villain or some combination of the two. Then things […]

I had a lot of clever titles for this review but none of them fit.

Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan and Noah Stollman

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Recently I was emailing a representative of a publisher my work deals with. We were talking about a book dealing with the 12 Day War between Iran and Israel that is coming out this fall. I mentioned I would like to find something that showed the other side of the story as well. I figure one should get all the information one can and you’ll probably have a better understanding of things as a whole. The person mentioned they liked Rutu Modan. However, she was […]

A physically exhilarating and exhausting experience

My Brilliant Friend: The Graphic Novel  by Chiara Lagani, Mara Cerri, Ann Goldstein, Elena Ferrante

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My Brilliant Friend: The Graphic Novel  by Chiara Lagani (Adapter), Mara Cerri (Illustrator), Ann Goldstein (Translator), Elena Ferrante (Original author) Every so often I find a book, movie, song, or some form of entertainment that I both love and hate equally at the same time.  All I’m going to say about My Brilliant Friend: The Graphic Novel the story is that it is a personal read that you love or not. I wonder how much it differs from the novel(s) and if more is told […]

I don’t know who wandered more: the book or me writing this review

Tongues, Volume 1 by Anders Nilsen

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Tongues, Vol. 1 by Anders Nilsen   I have NO idea what was read. The stories all bounce all over the place. The images are busy, the text mixes and gets lost in the illustrations. The images are colorless but are not black and white. The characters are unlikable, even Astrid, who might be the one that will save the world. Or destroy it. It’s still up in the air. There is nothing good and positive. Even The Prisoner has faults and he seems to […]



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