Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

To Hell, Not Back

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

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Read as part of CBR14 Bingo: snakes. This book has several references to snakes, and also I think one of the characters turned into a snake? It was a wild scene, regardless.  It took me two tries to get into this one but ultimately, I’m glad I did. It didn’t match the hype but it’s a good read on its own. Essentially, there are two books here: the first 20% that’s a compelling novel and the rest which is the magical mystery tour through the throes of […]

August 2022 Leftovers

Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood by Jane Leavy

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner

The Stranger by Albert Camus

The Man Who Liked to Look at Himself by K.C. Constantine

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris

Inside the Empire: The True Power Behind the New York Yankees by Bob Klapisch and Pete Solotaroff

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

Finley Ball: How Two Outsiders Turned the Oakland As into a Dynasty and Changed Baseball Forever by Nancy Finley

Sea Change by Robert B. Parker

The Hunting Wives by May Cobb

The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay

Ms. Tree, Volume 1 by Max Alan Collins

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Some extra books I read in August. What a miserably hot month… Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood**** Less a conventional biopic on The Mick and more a look at his life vis-a-vis his legend and the backdrop of postwar America. Not as thorough as I would’ve liked but still riveting given how Jane Leavy presents her subject.   Greenwich Park*** Again glad I slept on my review. I really liked how this started but after a while, it morphed into […]

A Remembrance of Things Past

Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen : Reflections on Sixty and Beyond by Larry McMurtry

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I have great affection for everything about this book: the Dairy Queen cover photo, the West Texas rumination, the author’s cherishing of books and words. What a delicious book. That DQ photo reminds me of the Dairy Queen I’d often stop at in Goldthwaite, Texas, at the intersection of Highway 183 and 16. I used to go there as a teenager when driving to college. Now I take my own kids there now when passing through. A DQ can be a cultural hub in a […]

July 2022 Leftovers

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipies from Tha Boss Dogg's Kitchen by Snoop Dogg

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

Plunder of the Sun by David Dodge

Stunt: A Mythical Reimagining of Nellie Jackson, Madame of Natchez by Saida Agostini

The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, A Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation by Rich Cohen

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Defender of the Innocent: The Casebook Files of Martin Ehrengraf by Lawrence Block

Voluntary Madness by Vicki Hendricks

Two Gentlemen of Lebowski: A Most Excellent Comedie and Tragic Romance by Adam Bertocci

The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel García Márquez

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord

Slonim Woods 9: A Memoir by Daniel Barban Levin

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

My Summer Darlings by May Cobb

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa

Firestarter by Stephen King

The Editor by Steven Rowley

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins

Lucky by Jackie Collins

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Here are reviews for the books I read in July that I didn’t have time or energy to do a full review on. Note: I was out of work in July so I read a lot. The Woman in Cabin 10 *** Read this while on a cruise ship and it definitely gave me some interesting feelings! A relatively entertaining thriller. I’d read another Ruth Ware book but wouldn’t rush out to do so From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipes From Tha Boss Dogg’s Kitchen**** […]

Daughter of the Texas Sun

Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen

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This is getting the thinnest of four-star ratings. I’m giving it all the first-time author grace I can. I loved Samantha Jayne Allen’s sense of place. Her Texas is a real one that feels lived in. She’s very good at talking about the struggles of the locals without pandering (unlike, say, Stephen Markley’s Ohio which basically screamed “(Bad thing X happened because the locals were ravaged by the opioid crisis!”on every page). If this series runs long, I could see her building up on it more […]

Another Ilona Andrews series has stolen my heart

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

White Hot by Ilona Andrews

Wildfire by Ilona Andrews

Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews

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I discovered Ilona Andrews through Felicia Day’s book club. We read the first Kate Daniels book, Magic Bites. I didn’t quite get hooked, but Cannonball Read made me want to read more. Thanks to Malin, Emmalita, and Jen K for convincing me. I know you didn’t have to twist my arm! I had always planned to read their Hidden Legacy series. I even bought the most recent book last year. It wasn’t until Malin gifted me the first two books for the CBR12 book exchange that […]



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