Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Cute doggos, problematic content

The Bookshop Rescue by Rochelle Alers

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While this is the ninth book in the series, I read it as a standalone. There were a couple of references to other couples that seemed like they were referring to previous books, but that was it. And while this has all the cute puppies the book promises, there were other issues that ruined the read for me. “But like the name of her bookstore, Lucy was beginning chapter one of her best new life.” Lucy and Calum both have their own reasons for not […]

Throw the whole damn man away

Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult

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I have to admit some bias with this book, because a good friend of mine who is wayyyy too amazing to date the Jaydens, Braydens, and Okaydens that she usually goes for just got her heart broken by the most average basic cis dude doctor.  But even so, throw the whole damn man away Paige. Our heroine is not perfect, mind. She leaves her husband and three month old to go find herself by searching for her wayward mother for a few months. Because she’s […]

Sure didn’t love it

Machines of Loving Grace by John Markoff

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I’m kind of convinced that this book was meta-non-fiction. It follows the history of artificial intelligence and the various ways that machines interact with humans, ostensibly with an eye to the future of the relationship humanity will have with robots once they tiptoe closer to sentience. That sounds like a good book. This is not that book. This book, I’m pretty sure, may have been the first full length book put to press written by an automaton. It would explain a lot – why the […]

Gonna gnaw my leg off to get outta this one

The trap by Melanie Raabe

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Purchased on a whim because the octolet had a fit of pique at Barnes and Noble before I could sort through my pile of books I was interested in before checkout, and I’m weak willed around remaindered books. Plus, apparently I never learn my lessons about cover blurbs, and really wanted another Gillian Flynn/Paula Hawkins type book. I know Gillian Flynn. Gillian Flynn is a close personal friend of mine. (No, not really.) And you, ma’am, are  no Gillian Flynn. This book was written flat as […]

Whelp, at least I know what I don’t like

A Knot in the Grain by Robin McKinley

The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley

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I thought I liked Robin McKinley.  I remember reading Deerskin and thinking it was really weird, but I thought I read other stuff by her that I liked.  I wonder if it’s a case of seeing her stuff around for a long time and assuming that I had read and liked it.  Well, I can now say I’ve read it, can’t say I’ve liked it. “The Healer” Lily is born mute, but with the gift of healing.  She can communicate some things by whistling, but […]

He’s Running, but also, Let’s Fight!!! – aka I wrote 1000+ words because I hated it

The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis—and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance by Ben Sasse

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Oh boy! I have so many thoughts that I took notes on the things I wanted to write about for this one.  Let’s do this: I read this book because I know a little bit about Senator Sasse.  I knew he has a Ph.D in history from Yale and was a university president all before becoming a senator at age 41.  I knew he was a Republican who was savvy on social media, specifically Twitter.  He first gained notoriety, to me at least, by penning […]



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