Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The biggest problem with time travel, as Douglas Adams pointed out, is the grammar.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

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Davi is stuck in time loop you guys! She keeps on waking up in a fantasy world, being told she is destined to save everyone from the Dark Lord—and she’s been failing constantly! For a millennium! It’s been really wearing on her; Davi’s kept count of every single go around the merry-go-round. Every single death, every single time: I slip into the sweet embrace of death with a contented sigh. So long, #237. Go fuck a porcupine. It’s a bit like The Legend of Zelda: […]

“And sometimes focusing on what you can control is the only way to lessen the pang in your chest when you think about the things you can’t.”

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

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This is my first Elizabeth Acevedo and I’m happy to report that the hype is real. I think that I’ve been putting off reading Acevedo because I’ve become a little allergic to YA and I was afraid that it would prevent me from enjoying her work. But Read Harder has a task for reading a YA book by a Latine author this year so with a little encouragement With the Fire on High made its way to my to read list for the year.   With […]

oh Sally, I don’t know about this one

Beautiful World, Where are You by Sally Rooney

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At times transcendent, but at others cringe-worthy. In Beautiful World, Where Are You Sally Rooney crawls so far into her own butthole that she manages to shout out of her mouth “do not look at my talking butthole! You don’t know me!”- and once in a while she says something so beautiful that you wind up saying “thank you so much, butthole!”. Reading this book was a journey, to say the least. Originally, I picked it up on Pub Day and tore right in; I adored Normal […]

cbr12bingo – Happy!

Medallion Status: True Stories from Secret Rooms by John Hodgman

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“Hey, it’s John Hodgman!” John Hodgman used to spend a considerable amount of time on TV. He’s played, in his words, all sorts of “sexless weirds” in TV and commercials alike. He spent time on The Daily Show as, among other things, a deranged billionaire. He left his Daily Show role behind as Trump rose to power, as there is nothing funny anymore about criminally insane rich people.  He isn’t spending too much time on TV at the moment; it’s been years since he was the PC of […]

“There’s a particular feeling in your body when something goes right after a long time of things going wrong. It feels warm and sweet and loose.”

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

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Lily King is a magician. She takes an unassuming title like Writers and Lovers and crafts something beautiful, messy, and utterly captivating. Her last novel, 2014’s Euphoria, was my favorite read of the last decade- I have to admit that I was initially disappointed when Writers and Lovers was announced after the evocative fever of Euphoria.  A 30-something woman navigates creative struggle, debt, grief, and relationships? All I have to do is shout out of my front door and a line of people that fit the description […]

Trying hard to sensationalize common sense.

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Twenty-fifth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. This is the third time I’ve tried to read Malcolm Gladwell and I’m sorry to say that I’m still not impressed. First one I tried was Blink. I grew tired of it really quickly (I want to make a ‘blink of an eye’ pun but I feel sad for Gladwell) as it just had a lot of trivia without really going anywhere. There was nothing substantial to be had there. Next came Tipping Point and it bored […]



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