Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Pride and Prejudice and Poetry

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

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There’s nothing I love better than a good Pride and Prejudice remake. That’s probably how this book ended up on my TBR. Thankfully, I was finally able to make time to get around to it. Then I caught a ridiculous not-COVID-but-miserable ick and lolled around drinking tea and catching up on Bridgerton for a while. Fortunately, that’s actually pretty good preparation to review a P&P remake. “Indian Muslim Marriage Rituals -South Asian Islamic wedding – 6688416795” by wedstories.studio is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 . Set in […]

“That’s all any of us can do, in the end. Say bismillah, and try.”

Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marisa Stapley

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Last year I read Uzma Jalaluddin’s Ayesha at Last and enjoyed it enough to have her on my radar for a book to add to this year’s list. With a happy coincidence of needing a non-Christmas holiday romance for the Read Harder challenge, Three Holidays and a Wedding by Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley. The story is set in December 2000 when Ramadan, Hannukah, and Christmas all overlapped and tells the story of several people who are snowbound in a small Canadian town when their plane is diverted on its approach to Toronto.   […]

“He is a person, complicated and confused. Just like you.”

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

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Ayesha at Last is a retelling the story of Pride and Prejudice featuring the titular Ayesha, a Muslim woman in her late twenties who has put aside her dreams of poetry and just finished a career change to become a teacher, financed by her wealthy uncle who has been financially supportive of her family since her father’s death including moving them to Canada and giving them the house they share with her grandparents. She is single and being passed on the proverbial marriage mart by […]

Updating the classics

Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin

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Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Retelling (modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion) CBR16 Bingo: Bollywood (set in Canada with desi protagonists) The absolutely last place Nada Syed wants to be is the big annual Muslim convention in downtown Toronto. She is nearly 30 years old, single and lives at home with her parents and two brothers. If she goes to the convention, there is a high chance that she’ll run into her old mentor, formerly her mother’s best friend. She might also run into her mentor’s […]

The Only Unrealistic Thing is the Length of the Podcasts

Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin

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A modern day take on You’ve Got Mail, where online friends realize that they’re real-life business rivals, and drama ensues. Hana Khan is the adult child of immigrant parents, living with her family in Toronto and working part-time in the family’s halal restaurant, Three Sisters Biryani Poutine. Sure, the décor is dated, the name is weird, and Hana is the only one who likes the namesake dish, but the restaurant is a staple of the Muslim community and the rest of the food is beyond […]

CBR15 Bingo: On the Air

Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin

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CBR15 Bingo: On the Air Official book description: Sales are slow at Three Sisters Biryani Poutine, the only halal restaurant in the close-knit Golden Crescent neighborhood. Hana waitresses there part time, but what she really wants is to tell stories on the radio. If she can just outshine her fellow intern at the city radio station, she may have a chance at landing a job. In the meantime, Hana pours her thoughts and dreams into a podcast, where she forms a lively relationship with one […]



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