Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“People – a group comprised of every sapient species, organic or otherwise – were chaos, but chaos was good. Chaos was the only sensible conclusion.”

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

February 21, 2026 by Malin Leave a Comment

Monthly Keyword Challenge 26: Ground Nowhere Book Bingo 26: A book that came out more than 4 years ago Defeating the Goblin TBR 26: The Gizmo Book (A Sci-fi or Dystopian book) Reading Rainbow – Indigo cover The planet of Gora doesn’t have much to recommend itself to anyone, except as a stopover for travellers to other, more interesting parts of space. Travellers can rest, refuel, eat, restock their supplies and update any permits that might be required. It’s like an interstellar truck stop between […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Science Fiction Tagged With: #Science Fiction, Aliens, Becky Chambers, cbr18, family, friendship, keyword 26, Malin, Multicultural, Nowhere Book Bingo, space, the galaxy and the ground within, Wayfarers

Malin's CBR18 Review No:7 · Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction · Tags: #Science Fiction, Aliens, Becky Chambers, cbr18, family, friendship, keyword 26, Malin, Multicultural, Nowhere Book Bingo, space, the galaxy and the ground within, Wayfarers ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
Cover of Songs for Ghosts bt Claire Kumagi

Folktales and cycles through history

Songs for Ghosts by Clara Kumagai

July 17, 2025 by LB Leave a Comment

Songs for Ghosts fulfills the “culture” square on CBR17 Bingo. Songs for Ghosts is a beautiful, tragic story of the power of stories and love, as well as the way past choices can create cycles throughout time. I’m unfamiliar with it, but in the afterword the author talks about Songs for Ghosts being a retelling of Madama Butterfly opera by Puccini where Cio-Cio-San has more agency than just the reductive submissive wife trope. Adam is a seventeen year old whose boyfriend just broke up with […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Horror, Young Adult Tagged With: achillean, biwa, cbr17bingo, Clara Kumagai, folklore, historical fiction, historical horror, japanese, Multicultural, Nagasaki, queer, songs for ghosts, sophomore novel, World War II

LB's CBR17 Review No:14 · Genres: Fiction, Horror, Young Adult · Tags: achillean, biwa, cbr17bingo, Clara Kumagai, folklore, historical fiction, historical horror, japanese, Multicultural, Nagasaki, queer, songs for ghosts, sophomore novel, World War II ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
Cover of The Story of my Anger by Jasminne Mendez

A firestorm of a story!

The Story of my Anger by Jasminne Mendez

July 8, 2025 by LB Leave a Comment

The Story of my Anger counts for the “school” square on CBR17 Bingo. I was immediately drawn to The Story of My Anger because Yuli’s pose on the cover is so defiant and powerful, and I knew I wanted to read her story. Told in verse, this book follows Yuli and her group of friends who are trying to prevent the books that have allowed them to be seen in curriculum from being banned. Especially in today’s sociopolitical landscape and how many books are being […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Poetry, Young Adult Tagged With: book bans, cbr17bingo, chosen family, contemporary fiction, jasminne Mendez, Multicultural, protest, queer secondary characters, Texas, the story of my anger, United States of America, Young Adult

LB's CBR17 Review No:9 · Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Young Adult · Tags: book bans, cbr17bingo, chosen family, contemporary fiction, jasminne Mendez, Multicultural, protest, queer secondary characters, Texas, the story of my anger, United States of America, Young Adult ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Love is Love and Hate is Hate

Ritu Weds Chandni by Ameya Narvankar

March 14, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Diversity The CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge Ritu Weds Chandni by Ameya Narvankar is currently available. However, I found an old online  reader copy to read. I thought I had read it before, but it did not feel familiar to me. Therefore I think I just looked at it and “put it aside.” Thankfully I did find it again as it takes a couple of familiar themes but adds a modern take to them, and I was in the right mood for it as well, as […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Fiction, Health, History, Religion, Romance Tagged With: Ameya Narvankar, diversity, family, LGBTQ, Marriage, Multicultural, Social Themes, The CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge

BlackRaven's CBR17 Review No:141 · Genres: Children's Books, Fiction, Health, History, Religion, Romance · Tags: Ameya Narvankar, diversity, family, LGBTQ, Marriage, Multicultural, Social Themes, The CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge ·
Rating:
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The scariest thing about this is how hard you’ll laugh

The Wild Ones by Megan Lacera and Jorge Lacera

January 21, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

The Wild Ones by Megan Lacera and Jorge Lacera came up in my online reader copy list. It is currently available, which is a good thing as you are going to want to get a copy for your young child. This is a cute story about faith in friends and monsters! Yes, monsters. Best friends love monsters (Frogzilla anyone?) and they are convinced there is a monster in the forest. When their home is slated for demolition for a new business to come into town, […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Cooking/Food, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Mystery Tagged With: diversity, friendship, Jorge Lacera, Megan Lacera, Megan Lacera and Jorge Lacera, monsters, Multicultural, Social Themes

BlackRaven's CBR17 Review No:42 · Genres: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Cooking/Food, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Mystery · Tags: diversity, friendship, Jorge Lacera, Megan Lacera, Megan Lacera and Jorge Lacera, monsters, Multicultural, Social Themes ·
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· 0 Comments

I like the complex simplicity

Boy Here, Boy There by Chuck Groenink

October 15, 2024 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

A recent lunchtime was a few small pieces of cold pepperoni pizza, a lime seltzer (I really don’t like seltzer but I’m expanding my literal tastes) and a few online books. One of those was Boy Here, Boy There by Chuck Groenink.  I will start with the ending of the book, or more specifically, the extras at the end. They talk about how Neanderthal and Homo sapiens were. Mostly focusing on Neanderthal, as the main character is a boy of a tribe of Neanderthals, we […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Fiction, History, Mystery Tagged With: Chuck Groenink, diversity, Multicultural, people, Prehistory

BlackRaven's CBR16 Review No:499 · Genres: Children's Books, Fiction, History, Mystery · Tags: Chuck Groenink, diversity, Multicultural, people, Prehistory ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Tracy
    on Early Fantasy: Long Stories in Which Not Much Happens
    That almost sounds "so bad it's good," and I might need to check it out.
  • louise
    on High expectations led to disappointment
    I totally agree with what you wrote. I already read this book and found it extremely complicated to understand the...
  • Ashlea
    on This standalone fantasy goes incredibly hard.
    Just finished this amazing story. Eyes are still damp. I had it queued on my Libby app for several weeks...
  • finnyfinfinn
    on Les Amis Des Chats
    It did seem to come a little bit out of nowhere fast but I enjoyed everything else so much I...
  • finnyfinfinn
    on Les Amis Des Chats
    It's very sweet!
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