Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


If it first you don’t succeed brush yourself off and try again, try again

The Do-Over by Lynn Painter

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My second read of the year comes from the long-standing tradition between my spouse and me: At the end of each year, we jot down five books for the other person to read over the upcoming year. I confess that The Do-Over was from the 2024 list, but in the spirit of the book, I thought I should go ahead and get ‘er read (a do-over!). I enjoyed the book and found it to be good medicine for our toxic times. Emily Hornby is the kind […]

“That we’re ‘Captain Dipshit and the Brainless Twit'”

Happily Never After by Lynn Painter

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A love story for sarcastic cynics. So obviously I loved it. Plot: Sophie was on the cusp of being promoted. Then she got engaged to the son of one of her coworkers, whose dad was also her father’s long-time employer. And then he cheated. So on the one hand, if she backs out of the wedding and humiliating the son, her dad’s is on the line. On the other hand, fuck that guy. Enter Max, who helps people who feel forced into a wedding they […]

Two books I Did Not Like

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

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Better Than the Movies One star because the main character has a genuinely touching conflict she’s trying to resolve. One star because the main romance is cute if visible from a billion billion miles away. Minus all the other ones for the multiple toxic tropes that we have to wade through which make literally zero sense in the context of the book. Iron Widow UGH felt so bad but this book just didn’t do it for me at all. It started out promising–Zhao’s writing style […]



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