Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I must make up my mind which is right – society or I”

Et dukkehjem (A Doll's House) by Henrik Ibsen

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I don’t know if a spoiler warning for a nearly 150-year-old play is necessary – but I will be revealing significant plot points when writing about this historical drama, so if you want to remain unspoiled, go read the play (it’s only three acts, it’s a relatively quick read) or watch a dramatisation, and come back when you’re done. Nora and Torvald Helmer are a middle-class couple living in Christiania (what Oslo was named for a few centuries in the before times) in the late […]

I’m glad the author is enjoying international success

Stargate - en julefortelling/Brightly Shining by Ingvild H. Rishøi

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Nowhere Book Bingo 25: Local author (the story takes place about 15 minutes from where I work) The full review of this on my blog contains spoilers so if you don’t want to know how the book ends, and why I can’t rate this book higher, skip the paragraphs I’ve highlighted. Ten-year-old Ronja and her sixteen-year-old sister Melissa are used to disappointments, living alone with a father who only occasionally sobers up long enough to hold down a job for a month or two. They’re […]

Racism is a very real thing, even in Norway

Kvit, norsk mann (White Norwegian man) by Brynjulf Jung Tjønn

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Nowhere Bingo 2025: A poetry collection The author of this poetry collection was adopted from South Korea by a childless Norwegian couple when he was three years old. Throughout this rather short, but very impactful poetry collection, he writes about his constant feeling of exclusion and lack of belonging. As a child of Asian descent in a small western Norwegian village surrounded by white people, he obviously stood out among the other children. Adopted by farmers to take over their farm when they grew old, […]

Reminded me of The Wire, season 4

Da vi var yngre (When we were younger)) by Oliver Lovrenski

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Nowhere Books Bingo: A book by a local author Ivor and his three friends Marco, Arjan and Jonas are a tight-knit gang, their own found family. According to Ivor, school used to be easy, until he and his friends lost interest and started making money and names for themselves on the streets. Ignoring the admonition from parents, teachers, social workers and others, they live hard and fast, not really caring who they have to hurt as long as they have each other. Their way of […]

CBR15 Bingo: You are Here

De kaller meg ulven (They Call Me the Wolf) by Zeshan Shakar

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#CBR15 Passport Challenge: Books from different countries (Norway) CBR15 Bingo: You are Here (It’s set in Norway, where I am) 15-word-review: A son constantly yearning for more social mobility tries to understand his elderly father, unsuccessfully. Official book description (translated from Norwegian by me): “Why didn’t they have more? I remember thinking after my grandmother died. They were from here, Norwegian, shouldn’t they have had more things? Those things other Norwegian parents and grandparents have, at least a simple cabin, the kind without power or […]

“Can I still listen to BTS if I’m a lesbian?”

Ti kniver i hjertet (Ten knives in the heart) by Nora Dåsnes

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3.5 stars Tuva is about to start seventh grade (age 11-12 here in Norway) and is very much looking forward to seeing her best friends Linnea and Bao and catching up after a long summer apart. She shares all of her hopes and fears writing and drawing in her diary. When she gets back to school, however, nothing is as she was expecting. Linnea has a boyfriend now, and doesn’t really want to hang out, playing in their secret treehouse in the woods. She just […]



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