October/November 2020
MsWas's Message Corner
Hello CBR12 participants and friends of Cannonball Read,
Thank you all so much for sharing the best that happened to you in our Election Day diversion, it was a pretty sweet comment section day, and your stories warmed my heart. Thanks also to all of our November donors. You can still donate via PayPal, Venmo, or Google Pay and get a chance in our prize raffle!
As a special thank you to our donors, commenters, Cannonballers, friends and supporters, I’ll let you in on a little secret. In December, we’ll be having our very first ever Virtual CBR Holiday Party! We’re still working on finalizing the details, so keep an eye on your email and our social media for more info as we have it.
Looking forward to seeing many of you real soon!
--Bonnie (aka "MsWas")
"Reading brings us unknown friends." – Honoré Balzac
Q&A with a Cannonballer: LittlePlat
You're one of our international Cannonballers. Is there a book written about or set in your hometown/local area that you think does it justice?
 Haha, the Melways? It is the most Melbournian book I know of!
For some Very Melbourne books, go to pick the Murray Whelan series by Shane Maloney. They’re a set of crime novels set in the eighties where the protagonist is not a cop, or a detective, but a political fixer for the Australian Labor Party, and they display the character of Melbourne very well. Apart from having a very droll sense of humor, these books feature two things that Melbournians mightn’t want you to remember the city by, but are prominent features regardless: the amusingly petty political bullshit and the amusingly dumb criminal bullshit.
As for my current residence, Barcelona, The Shadow of the Wind (La Sombra del Viento), by the recently deceased Carlos Ruiz Zafón, is a good showcase of the city. I read it in English though. I don’t have the patience skill or the time to try otherwise.
Let's raise some funds!
 As MsWas has said, we'd always rather discuss books than money, but no matter what's happening in the outside world, the mission of Cannonball Read is to raise money for the American Cancer Society. We appreciate your help and support (whether it's monetary, sharing on social media, clicking on reviews, volunteering, etc.) now and always. To show our appreciation, we've got a fun little bonus. All donors in 2020 will receive a link to a free, CBR-related, printable bookmark designed in-house by our very own yesknopemaybe. Our goal is to raise $1,300 to start CBR13 off with a bang.
All donors will also be entered for a raffle. Check out the cool prize options!
Thank you for your continued support!
The End of Bingo
Congratulations to all our Bingo participants, and thank you to everyone who read, clicked, commented, and supported along the way. Thirty-seven Bingoers posted 495 reviews! There are some great recommendations out there (and a few hilarious anti-recommendations), so check out the cbr12bingo tag if you missed any of them.
Great work to Octothorp for being the first to complete a bingo card, and to BlackRaven for being the first to bingo. And a round of applause for yesknopemaybe for designing the beautiful bingo card, and for emmalita for running the bingo show.
Our raffle winner this year is andtheIToldYouSos! She won some CBR merch and a $25 gift certificate to a bookseller of her choosing. Congrats, ATITYS!
Holiday Book Exchange: Register by November 20!
If you're a CBR participant, it's a safe bet that you're a recommender. If you like the careful choosing and then excited introducing of books to delighted readers, and if you like receiving books equally carefully chosen for you, then the Holiday Book Exchange is for you! Give books, get books, share joy, and start 2021 off to a good start. Check out the details on this completely voluntary book exchange, and if you'd like to participate, sign up by November 20!
#CannonBookClub
Our final #CannonBookClub of the year was October 16 and 17. We covered Emily St. John Mandel's Glass Hotel, which garnered some interesting discussion, even though it seems like this one wasn't as much of a hit as St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, which we discussed back in March, roughly eight thousand years ago. Thanks to all our book club participants this year, and and stay tuned for info about #CannonBookClub 13!
CBR Diversions
We've had three excellent Diversion discussions lately: your stories about banned books, your favorite quotes about reading and writing, and a marvelous riot of positivity about the best thing to happen to you in the previous week. It's been delightful to read everybody's stories and thoughts and get to know each other better. If you missed any, the Diversions are here.
A new Diversion is being posted tomorrow, asking for your thoughts on the best books to give as gifts. This one should be a good cheat sheet for those who want to sign up for the Book Exchange. You don't have to be registered for CBR12 to participate, so chime in if you'd like!
Y'all are a weird, wonderful, chatty bunch, and we love every minute of it.
Pre-wrap-up notes
The end of CBR12 will be here before we know it! As always, the official ending will be noon EST on December 31. We look forward to seeing you back for CBR13.
And while we're nearing the last month of reviewing, it's time to reflect on 2020's best and worst books. Start thinking about the three best books you read this year, and the one worst. In December, MsWas will post a submission form for the Best and Worst list, which will go into the year-end wrap-up post. (Last year's was so fun!)
Style Tip: Images and accessibility
Here's an accessibility tip for your reviews: when uploading a picture, always put a brief description in the "Alt text" field. If there's something in that section, like "book cover featuring whiny teens" or "dog chewing on my kindle," screen readers can speak those words out loud to the visually disabled. The more accessible our reviews are, the more people can read them.
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