Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Get Off My Island!

Eden Undone by Abbott Kahler

by Leave a Comment

CBR18 Bingo: Sheep – The doctor and Dore, and later the Wittmers, all come to Floreana hoping to live simpler, more rustic lives, growing their own food and tending to their own animals. When Friedrich, a German doctor, and his former patient and lover Dore decide to move to an uninhabited Galapagos island in search of a pastoral setting for their self-improvement, they did not know the publicity and violence that would follow. I had a vague recollection of this bizarre story from hearing about […]

What can a potato do?

Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa: Join the Quest with Peru's Famed Scientist and Potato Expert by Sara Andrea Fajardo and Juana Martinez-Neal

by Leave a Comment

As with several books I was not going to read, Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa: Join the Quest with Peru’s Famed Scientist and Potato Expert by Sara Andrea Fajardo and Juana Martinez-Neal (illustrator) was one of them, but it eventually found its way to my TBR pile as it was on a Best of 2025 Picture Book list. This was the final sign that told me I probably should read it. I was still nervous as when a book gets that hyped […]

What would you do?

Shadows on the Ice: The 1972 Andes Disaster by Frédéric Bertocchini, Thierry Diette and Pacal Nino

by Leave a Comment

History, CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge I am starting this with saying this is, to say the least, not an easy read. There are several situations that could be triggering. The main one is that this is about the 1972 Andes plane crash that would result in the eventual consumption of the deceased passengers. I was not completely ready for what was going to happen (and I felt I was prepared) and therefore I was not comfortable with the subject. Also, I will say that I […]

“The world is paralyzed, and humanity is in quarantine. It is a strange symmetry that I was born in one pandemic and will die during another.”

Violeta by Isabel Allende

by Leave a Comment

This was the library book club pick for the month and my first Isabel Allende novel. I looooved it, but it was a highly contested work at the book club (with many people rating it very poorly), but since this is MY review I’ll defend my position, and (somewhat begrudgingly) give insights into the critiques. This novel reminded Min Jin Lee’s “Pachinko” in its tone and ability to captivate me, and in introducing me to a geography/history that I don’t know a lot about (in […]

“their houses would have wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors so that Esteban’s memory could go everywhere without bumping into beams”

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa (Translator)

by Leave a Comment

I have been circling Gabriel García Márquez for decades, almost too afraid to approach his work at all. On and off the reading lists his works go, a constant pendulum of my ambition or lack thereof. When staring at our Bingo squares and realizing a few short stories and novellas were likely to help my progress I went on the hunt for a few and The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel García Márquez came up. Here we go, I thought – here’s […]

An interesting premise, but not one I cared about enough to continue

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

by 1 Comment

Did not finish It is 1981 in Buenos Aires. Juan and his young son Gaspar embark on a cross-country trip to his late wife’s family compound. It is clear from the beginning that Juan is ill and is still suffering the after-effects of recent heart surgery and the sudden loss of his wife Rosario. This is no ordinary road trip. He is struggling to support his son, who does not understand what is really happening and is traumatized by his mother’s death and his father’s […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo