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Final Standings and the Most Read Books for Last Year's Cannonball Read 14

By Mswas Sawsm | Books | January 27, 2023 |

By Mswas Sawsm | Books | January 27, 2023 |


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Did you know that Cannonball Read, Inc. became an official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2022? Not only that, we topped that milestone by reaching, and then exceeding, the $10,000 mark in our total donations to the American Cancer Society. To think all this began as a friendly wager on this site between a couple of Pajibans-AlabamaPink and Prisco. We’ve read over 27,000 different titles and written more than 49,000 book reviews in honor of AlabamaPink. I’m in awe every day at what folks are writing over on our group blog. There’s some really funny stuff there, plus book recommendations. What could be better?

One thing that’s better is the wonderful community that has grown up around Cannonball Read. Everyone is so encouraging, especially to our new Cannonballers. It’s really a great place to get your feet wet again if you’ve ever had the urge to write. Consider signing up for this year, registration will end soon.

The Cannonball Read and Pajiba communities took a heartbreaking hit last year, though, when we lost another of our own to cancer, longtime Cannonballer and Pajiban, Jennie "baxlala" Baxla. A couple of Jennie’s book reviews still hang around these parts—her review of Bridget Jones’ Diary is pointedly accurate and hilarious. Go read her CBR reviews, her writing is just. so. good. If you’d like to do something in Jennie’s memory, her family suggests planting a tree in her memory or donating in her name to Oak Tree Corner, a support center for grieving children in Dayton, Ohio where Jennie volunteered for many years.

Thanks to all of our supporters in 2022. Many donated in honor of baxlala or other loved ones, and their support makes our community and our own mission to support cancer causes possible. Now that Cannonball Read Inc is a registered 501(c)(3), all donations are 100% tax deductible and 100% appreciated. Please consider donating or check out the Cannonball Read shop at RedBubble.

In happier news, Cannonballers came together for two book clubs last year. We selected The Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo for our May book club, and in honor of Banned Books Week’s 40th birthday we read The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson (pictured above). Johnson’s book became one of the most banned books in the US last year. You should definitely go read it, first to stick it to those extremist fools, and second because it is a delight! If you’re interested in joining our book clubs this year, or have an idea for a book to read, please contact us.

Before a certain site that rhymes with fritter went to hell in a handbasket, CBR was fortunate enough to hear from authors like Olivia Dade, Guy Gavriel Kay, Jackie Lau and Maud Newton. You can check out who else reached out to us over on our site, and find us @cannonballread pretty much everywhere.

Our fifth Book Bingo Reading Challenge was a big success; Bingo has become a favorite with everyone who participates. This year we had some fun takes on the card as people filled in on their way to bingo. We also chatted about all kinds of things in our comment diversions, which are perfect for when you’re in a reading or writing slump.

A HUGE thanks to everyone who helped out with running Bingo behind the scenes and what turned out to be a rough end to the year. Our volunteers kept things rolling when both Emmalita and I each had our own trials during the year. (Don’t even ask!) Many thanks to andtheIToldYouSos, Aquillia, Bothari43, CoffeeShopReader, faintingviolet, ingres77, Jen K, katie71483, Kendra, Nart, Rachel W, teresaelectro, The Mama, and yesknopemaybe. My apologies if I am missing anyone.

Our first to 52 last year was vel veeter, who finished out the year with 701 books reviewed. He and BlackRaven have been vying for that "first" honor for a few years now. The two of them are our most prolific Cannonballers, and a big thanks to them for their dedication.

Another thank you goes to ingres77 for compiling our stats on the books and authors we read last year. I know some of you are going to geek out over the numbers below, so drop him a note in the comments if you do. Our Cannonballers published 5,207 reviews, that’s the second most of all time (after 5,329 reviews in 2019). All total the entire Cannonball Read site at the end of last year had 49,056 reviews of 27,725 unique books. Amazing!

The 10 most read books of CBR14 are:
1. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (13 reviews, 3.7 stars)
2. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (13 reviews, 4.3 stars)
t-3. Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (9 reviews, 3.9 stars)
t-3. Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (9 reviews, 4.4 stars)
t-3. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (9 reviews, 3.9 stars)
t-6. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (8 reviews, 4.1 stars)
t-6. The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian (8 reviews, 5 stars)
t-6. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (8 reviews, 3.9 stars)
t-6. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (8 reviews, 4.1 stars)
t-10. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (7 reviews, 4.7 stars)
t-10. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (7 reviews, 4.1 stars)

Top 10 most read authors of CBR14 are:
1. Agatha Christie (54 reviews)
2. J.D. Robb (39 reviews)
3. Stephen King (35 reviews)
4. Tatsuki Fujimoto (32 reviews)
5. Becky Chambers (24 reviews)
6. T. Kingfisher (24 reviews)
7. Leigh Bardugo (23 reviews)
8. Alice Oseman (22 reviews)
9. Martha Wells (21 reviews)
t-10. Jackie Lau (20 reviews)
t-10. Hergé (20 reviews)

We’re so thankful for each and every review of the year and for each and every Cannonballer listed in our final standings below. Whether your review count was single or triple digits, your commitment to this project makes it all worthwhile.

Final Standings from Cannonball Read 14
If your name is not here, or your number is incorrect, please contact me.

Tredecuple (13!) Cannonball (676+ books)
vel veeter 701

Duodecuple Cannonball (624+)
BlackRaven 644

Quintuple Cannonball (260+)
Classic 301
narfna 260

Triple Cannonball (156+)
wicherwill 167
GentleRain 156

Double Cannonball (104+)
Jake 151
Emmalita 149
Travis_J_Smith 135
booktrovert 127
Pooja 122

Full Cannonball (52+) - 17 people
CoffeeShopReader 88
llamareadsbooks 85
faintingviolet 80
kfishgirl 61
ElCicco 59
RaRaGabor 59
Dome’Loki 57
jeverett15 56
Sophia 56
ASKReviews 56
ardaigle 55
Nart 54
esmemoria 53
Zirza 53
Malin 52
carmelpie 52
thegirlwhogotoverit 52


Half Cannonball (26+) - 16 people
Wanderlustful 51
Mobius_Walker 46
KimMiE" 46
andtheIToldYouSos 46
teresaelectro 40
Leedock 37
Halbs 35
LittlePlat 34
sabian30 34
TylerDFC 32
Claudia 32
tiny_bookbot 29
Caesar’s Wife 27
Bothari43 26
anana 26
Bibliophile 26


Quarter Cannonball (13+) - 19 people
LB 25
The Chancellor 24
postcardsandbooks 24
persnickety chick 24
elderberrywine 22
NTE 22
Abi 21
auntadadoom 20
Ellesfena 20
Sofi Keren 19
Ale 19
1000Oysters 18
kniki 15
katie71483 14
scootsa1000 14
jomidi 13
kittenkong42 13
Dinah Lord 13
donttrustthe_bea 13

And the 42 Cannonballers who wrote between one and twelve reviews, listed alphabetically:

Amalthea 3
Ang 4
AnnaCollier 5
Aquillia 8
baxlala 1
Bea Pants 4
blauracke 8
chatelaine 2
Claire Badger 4
Debcapsfan 9
drmllz 11
dsbs42 5
elisamaza76 1
esme 10
fauxschizzle 2
ifso 5
ingres77 12
Jenna 1
jormis 4
KM Bezner 5
Kreeves 1
krisbholland 6
KWDragon 1
Lynn 11
MarkAbaddon 9
matt_thac 1
Merryn 4
MG Dietzel 12
Mikki Blu 8
NatteringwPride 11
NoNeinNyet 1
Saube75013 3
Siege 1
sjfromsj 3
storiaallineare 1
SunflowerK 1
Tava 2
TQB 2
Tracy 4
wally 1
xoxoxoe 5
Zoë 2

We’ve got a lot of fun stuff in the works for CBR15, like the Passport Book Challenge currently under way. Sign up today! Registration for Cannonball Read 15 is ending soon.