Cannonball Read 14

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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The Schoolhouse Blizzard

Maddy and the Monstrous Storm by Julie Gilbert

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Maddy  is new to the prairie, but when she and her classmates are trapped in their schoolhouse by a ferocious blizzard, she must lead them all to safety. I’d first heard of the Schoolhouse Blizzard a year or two ago, when I read Melanie Benjamin’s The Children’s Blizzard, which similarly followed a schoolteacher and a group of schoolchildren who were trapped by the snow and had to fight to survive. This book covers the same topic and themes, but in a way that is more accessible […]

An interesting take on the dystopian genre

The Last One by Alexandra Oliva

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A reality TV show launches 12 contestants into the woods, fending for their own survival and the chance to win a huge prize. The last person able to survive alone wins the money and bragging rights. Cut off from the rest off the world, they are left to their own devices to survive in the wilderness and win the competition. The producers of the show give nicknames to each contestant; our protagonist is Zoo. She’s plucky and bookish, and has a hard time adjusting to […]

Apocalypse Snow: The Terror, The Terror

The Terror by Dan Simmons

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Despite a few defaults (repetitive set pieces in the middle section, some predictable twists, probably too many characters), this tale of the ill fated expedition of the Royal Navy to the Arctic in the 1840s will be worth your time. Based on a true story (what fiction isn’t these days?) this mixes brilliantly exploration, survival and fantasy with a vivid style that will make you feel the cold, pain and suffering of the sailors who went to discover a passage to the north and found […]

Claustrophobia

Choosing Light: When an Earthquake Buried Me and My Family for 5 Days, I Learned to Fully Live by Viral Dalal

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On vacation with his family in the coastal town of Bhuj, Viral Dalal is buried under the rubble of an eight-storey building as an earthquake hits the town. And there he must wait, for five long days, never knowing if his family is safe or he himself will survive. An important thing to know going into this review is that I am severely claustrophobic. I cannot imagine staying calm in the space that Dalal was trapped in for more than five minutes, let alone five […]

Yay for finishing my Bingo card! But mehhhh to this book.

Stranded by Sarah Goodwin

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CBR Bingo: Shelfie (Purchased the e-book–it’s cheap!) Yay! I can’t believe I finished my Bingo card, this is my first time ever doing that! I wish I would have finished on a stronger book, though. Stranded is the story of Maddy, a woman who has been cast on a Survivor-esque reality show where eight people are left on an island for a year to try and survive and build a community. After a couple months of uneasy cooperation, things start to go wrong. If you’ve read Lord […]

Absolutely do not read this book

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent

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BINGO – The Wilds [TW: sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, abuse of a minor, gun violence, language (which I’ve included in white text below)] There’s been some discussion recently on Cannonball Read about how far into a book does one go before giving up. My procedure is to give a a book at least 1/3 of its total page count before giving up entirely. My 11th grade English teacher, Mrs. Julie Cogburn (one of the best I ever had), shared this procedure with us. […]



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