Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Can I handle the seasons of my life?” Fleetwood Mac LANDSLIDE

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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#cbr11bingo #Pajiba (and should finish my Bingo board) While predictable in many ways, Daisy Jones & the Six has a lot to like. Some parts of Taylor Jenkins Reid novel are strong and fast pace. Other parts move a lot more slowly; making it difficult to want to go on.  And while I never really liked anyone (even the more “likeable” people) they are all well done. These are people you know. You have been these people. Or you are these people. Okay, we are […]

Get down and boogie!

Viloet’s Music by Angela Johnson

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The library trip of mine were I picked up some books, it was most fruitful in another ways. I also read a book on the way up the path to the crosswalk. A local magnet school and the library had paired up to do a Story Walk. This is when a book is put on signs (two pages at a time) and you read and look at the pictures as you walk along. This time it was Viloet’s Music by Angela Johnson. As I carefully […]

A long apprenticeship for this final act of bad judgment

Orfeo by Richard Powers

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CBR BINGO: Awards (2014 California Book Awards Silver Medal Fiction/ Man Booker long list) Somehow I managed not to get the memo regarding Richard Powers earlier in his career. I picked up “Overstory” last year because it was displayed at the library, had trees on the cover and looked like it checked all of my eco-fiction boxes. (I’m still wondering what to call the nature/environmental/ecology centric fiction that I love. Is there an established understood category for this? Anyone?) Didn’t realize I was picking up the […]

Beware the UPS Guys

We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

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I’m not much of a listener of metal genres, but We Sold Our Souls seems almost like a novelization of a heavy metal song, one of the ones with a Satanic tinge. Basically, Kris is a middle aged wash-out who in the past had been the lead guitarist of a metal band on the cusp of fame, only to be thwarted by the ambitions of her bandmate Terrence. Years after a disastrous night during which the band breaks up, the details of which are fuzzy, […]

Bowie and Sylive say it best: Just Dance

Just Dance by Patricia MacLachlan

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Patricia MacLachlan is an “old school” author or what I call a “grandparent friendly author” as nothing “bad” happens in the story. Sure, Sylvie Bloom gets sick near the end of the book, but nobody is worried she will die. Nor are there any drawn-out weeks of worrying. Even the “excitement” of the dog locked in a car really is not all that worrisome as you know that Sheriff Bud will miraculously save the day. Even Sylvie’s name, Bloom, is happy and a shadowing to […]

A long time ago a man wrote music ….

Because by Mo Willems

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Because is one of those books, that when I was finished, I was out of breath and feeling slightly overwhelmed, but in a good way. I was afraid, as I am not a huge Mo Willems fan, that I was not going to enjoy this, but Because has a format that is unique, a story theme, while has been done before, has not be done in this exact way and some clever artwork. Mo Willems and Amber Ren created a story about how things are […]



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