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Wrapping Up Cannonball Read III: Everybody Wins!

By Tamatha Uhmelmahaye | Posted Under Book Reviews | Comments (21)



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One of my main goals as coordinator of Cannonball Read III was to encourage as many Pajibans (and Pajiban associates) as possible to join in the fun. I was overjoyed (and more than a little overwhelmed) when 150 Cannonballers signed up. That was 50% more readers than the year before!

Another thing that was important to me from the beginning was to encourage the Cannonballers along the way. I took a zero guilt approach. Having crashed and burned myself in CBR-II, I simply wanted to encourage folks to feel that they were a part of this reading community.

One of the things that I think helped was the creation of different levels of Cannonball: The traditional Whole Cannonball of 52 books, but also a Half Cannonball (26 books) and a Quarter Cannonball (13 books). Not only did this new approach encourage folks who wouldn’t sign up for reading and reviewing 52 books to take the plunge, but it also meant that if someone didn’t make a higher goal, they still had an opportunity to reach one of the other levels. Win-win, if you ask me.

I absolutely and sincerely believe that all the folks who signed up for CBR-III and read at least one book during the year (whether a review came out of that or not) were part of the Cannonball community.

At the same time, I also believe that those Cannonballers who actually wrote at least thirteen reviews deserve some recognition. So here they are (for a few Cannonballers I was able to suss out how many books they read beyond their total reviews, so I’ve included that as well when I could, since the first CBR did not require reviews).

Whole Cannonball (or more)

Ashley − 156
Malin − 104
Clementine Bojangles − 100
Siege − 95
Jen K. − 76 reviewed (109 read)
caragwapa − 60
Janel − 56
Caitlin − 55
DeistBrawler − 53
Jelinas − 53
Krista − 53
Sara H − 53
akhirnya − 52
ambern − 52
Amy − 52
Captain Tuttle − 52
Carolyn − 52
crabtree − 52
effcubed − 52
leedock − 52
Samantha − 52
scootsa1000 − 52
sevenstories − 52
Tara − 52
xoxoxo e − 52

Half Cannonball (or more)

Even Stevens − 47
Raych − 46
Alli − 44
Figgy − 38 reviewed (55- read)
Captain Steve − 37
pyrajane − 37
Pinky McLadybits − 34
Diana − 33
mswas − 33
genericwhitegirl − 31
Fofo − 30 reviewed (52 read)
Mrs Smith − 29
KatSings − 26
llp − 26
The Scruffy Rube − 26
Tits McGee − 26
Trudi − 26

Quarter Cannonball (or more)

TheOutlawJosie − 25
amurph11 − 22
heathpie − 21
sonk − 21
denesteak − 18
Karo − 18
Sophia − 18
dsbs − 18 reviewed (31 read)
Dorothy Snarker − 17
Internet Magpie − 16
TWOP_fan − 15
Ana C − 15
Lizella − 14
MelBivDevoe − 14
kella − 13

Honorable Mentions

Cannonballers who may have reviewed less than a Quarter Cannonball’s worth of books, but who read at least that many:
jack − 10 reviewed, 52 read
Sandisan − 4 reviewed, 32 read
Jamiepants − 4 reviewed, 24 read
Mr. Vlach − 3 reviewed, 40 read
Lauri − 3 reviewed, 17 read
No Pithy Name − 1 review, 100 read
Tyburn Blossom − 1 reviewed, 28 read

Cannonballers who wrote between one and twelve reviews:
prairiegirl
Doctor Controversy
leuce7
Az
Nosio
Beletseri
coryo
Lennon
staceygarrett
D. P.
FyreHaar
Robert
jim of the lowercase
Kimchichi
Sinnh
The Mama
TylerDFC
idleprimate
Sleepy Lemur
A-schaef
Alyson McManus
JarekMatthews
Tereasa
bat
crapface
wronoj
penniless bastard
Beckells
cruzich
jasper
marya
Stupid Velociraptors
pattykhill
Angeleno Ewok
Chugga
commanderstrikeher
Jim Doggie
Patty O’Green
starryjo
Lonjanis
chaplain
Deck Officer
J.K. Barlow
SaBrina
Faythe Saxton


A sincere thank you to all the Cannonballers of CBR-III, because they are the ones who kept the tradition going. I also want to thank those who suggested a group blog. I think that was one of the best things to come out of CBR-III. It seemed to foster a larger sense of community among the Cannonballers.

It was an honor to keep Cannonball Read going for a third year. I’m glad I was able to do my part. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m two book reviews behind for CBR-IV.









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Comments

I did better than I thought I did. YAY!

Posted by: Pinky McLadybits at January 27, 2012 11:10 AM

If ONLY I'd reviewed 2 more books, then I'd have beaten Pinky McLadybits!

Posted by: mswas at January 27, 2012 11:24 AM

I am in awe of those of you who went above and beyond 52 books - 156 books, Ashley? That's amazing!

Actually, I'm in awe of pretty much everyone, especially those who met their goals. I was shooting for a Half but managed a Quarter.

And cheers to Tamatha for taking care of everything - we appreciate all your work and your encouragement!!

Posted by: MelBivDevoe at January 27, 2012 11:45 AM

I actually read 30 books, but I only reviewed I think 8. Trying to stay on top of my reviews this time. Getting ready to write review #4 here at lunch.

Congratulations to everyone who completed CBR3!

Posted by: TylerDFC at January 27, 2012 12:01 PM

My brain hurts. I'm all ready extremely behind in Cannonball 4. The though of writing one more review makes my brain completely seize up. I'm officially in awe of people who write reviews for a living :)

Posted by: Ashley at January 27, 2012 1:03 PM

As usual, my reviewing was sorely behind my reading. I blame my fetus, it distracted me. I'll be back for Cannonball V, taking this year off to, you know, have a baby.

Posted by: FyreHaar at January 27, 2012 1:25 PM

Goddammit I suck at writing reviews. I always leave them for later and then have no feelings about the books and it's all BLAH. I am determined to write all 52 this time. THIRD TIME IS FINAL.

Posted by: figgy at January 27, 2012 2:00 PM

Third year is gonna be the charm for me I love being a part of this wonderful community!!

Posted by: Alli at January 27, 2012 2:00 PM

I average about a book every two days - reading, that is. I have a LOT of time to read at work. However, I suck at reviewing and for that, I apologize.

Posted by: Az at January 27, 2012 3:15 PM

Yay! I made an honorable mention. Which I think is pretty good for being in nursing school, getting married last March, and raising a kid. That said, I'm not doing IV, but will keep on reading, inspired by many of the reviews posted here. And watch out CBR V!

Posted by: Lauri at January 27, 2012 3:44 PM

Thank you Tamatha for co-ordinating us all. I agree, the group blog has been great, it's great to get to interact a bit more with the other people taking part and getting comments and commenting on reviews. It does feel more like a community doing something together.

I feel like as soon as I say it out loud it will fail miserably but I'm going for a double Cannonball this year, what gets in my way is my inability to write short, pithy reviews. My reviews always end up quite long and in depth and I can't make myself write shorter ones as I am bad at curtailing my many many thoughts about everything. I do find the reviews hard to write, especially for books I love, it's much harder to articulate why you love something than why you hated it. I already have a huge backlog of reviews but we shall see...

Ashley, your brain may hurt now but you were amazing last year! I was in awe of your reviews!

Posted by: sevenstories at January 27, 2012 4:07 PM

Baker's Cannonball for me! Wooo!

Congratulations to everyone who participated. Those of you doing CBR4 - Go forth and conquer!

Posted by: Sara H at January 27, 2012 4:08 PM

And actually, I read 54, but I never got to reviewing the last one. Accidents in the Home by Tessa Hadley -- good stuff, read it.

Posted by: Sara H at January 27, 2012 4:09 PM

Tams, I think I speak for all of us when I say that I stand in awe of your dedication to CBR. It takes a lot of time and effort to actually ask people how many books they read when they didn't review them. I would lazily have said, "If it ain't reviewed, it don't count." But you took the time and sent us reminders and generally made us feel like a community. Thanks for that.

And here's to CBR-IV being just as ossom!! It's already off to an amazing start, thanks to mswas! :)

Posted by: Jelinas at January 27, 2012 9:02 PM

Congratulations all, and thank you Tamatha - you were an excellent and welcoming coordinator.

Posted by: llp at January 27, 2012 9:46 PM

Aw, thanks you guys! I was happy to do it. And I'm just so pleased to have seen it through to the end and to pass coordinating CBR into wonderfully capable hands and knowing that the Cannonball Read will continue.

Posted by: tamatha at January 27, 2012 9:51 PM

I echo many of the sentiments above - most especially for you, Tamatha, for leading the charge and keeping me motivated. Though I didn't make my goal and fell far behind in my reviews, I was happy to have read as many books as I did and to knock one of my big reads, "Gone with the Wind" off of my must read list.

Congrats to all my fellow Cannonballers and here's to an even more successful CBR-IV!

Posted by: prairiegirl at January 27, 2012 11:01 PM

I rule.

That is all.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at January 28, 2012 2:28 PM

*high-fives DeistBrawler*

Posted by: Sara H at January 28, 2012 8:38 PM

Oh, the shame. I read way more than twelve books, guys. I think it's a case of Too Many Commitments. I swear, I had three more saved on my dashboard; guilt at not having finished those yet stopped me from reviewing more.

Posted by: J. K. Barlow at January 29, 2012 7:47 AM

Thank you so much again for coordinating this, Tamatha!

Posted by: denesteak at January 29, 2012 11:12 AM