Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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The Grass Was Hysterical with Dew

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam

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Ugh. This is the second book I’ve read in a row now where the characters are terrible people who are impossible to root for. The first was Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke, and now it’s Entitlement, by Rumaan Alam. In Entitlement, we have aged billionaire Asher Jaffe, who creates a foundation to “give away” his fortune before he dies. Unsurprisingly, Jaffe turns out not to be a good person. He spends nearly a million dollars on a birthday present for his wife, but thinks $10k is […]

When Satire Isn’t

Severance by Ling Ma

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I wonder what it was like to read this book pre-COVID. Because I can tell you that reading it now, six years after COVID hit, it’s not as satirical as perhaps the author intended. In Severance, the deadly virus definitively originates in China and makes sort-of zombies (not the brain-eating kind) from the infected. Other than that difference, this book is spookily prescient. So much so that I had to keep re-checking the original publication date, but, yeah, Severance was first published in August of […]

Depression, But Make it Funny

Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel

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Small Admissions, by Amy Peoppel, is a contemporary novel set in New York City and supposedly features a group of friends trying to help one of the group get back on her feet. I say “supposedly” because one friend, Chloe, makes the entire situation about herself. In fact, she’s the only character written in first-person, even though she is not the main character. Angela, the sister of the actual main character, tries to help, but mostly just nags and criticizes. And Vicki/Victoria is a completely […]

Not for me.

Secret Identity by Alex Segura

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 2/30 DNF @ 30% I gave it the ole college try, as none of the kids say these days. But this book was not for me! I’m really sad about it, because the gritty 70s NYC atmosphere, the love of comics built in to it, and the MC being a queer daughter of Cuban immigrants trying to make it in comics publishing all really sounded like something I would love, but this book was so dull. What […]

Awkward encounters in the giant wooden elephant and beyond

Treachery on Tenth Street by Kate Belli

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When I put the fourth book in the Gilded Gotham Mystery series (just released) on a Christmas list, I realized I may not have read the third, so I got it from the library. Almost fitting in a way, since Treachery on Tenth Street actually (non-spoiler) ends with a reference to the eventual arrival of Christmas. The mystery is almost secondary here, since there is a good bit of emphasis on characters realizing how they feel about each other. The obvious attraction has been clear […]

When Reality and Fiction Overlap in NYC

The World We Make by N. K. Jemisin

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Bingo 17: North America This might be a little obvious but since The World We Make could actually fit several categories, I’m using for North America because it takes place largely in New York City, and most of the main characters are living avatars of the boroughs of NYC, as well as an avatar for the city overall. The gist of the novel remains similar from the prequel (this is part 2 of a duology): the avatars of Manhattan (Manny), Queens (Padmini), Brooklyn (Brooklyn), Bronx […]



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