Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About ElCicco

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Married, mom of two, history PhD, feminist. I've been participating in Cannonball Read since CBR4. I love to read, and writing reviews keeps me from reading without thinking. I feel like I owe it to the authors who entertain me to savor their creations. It's like slowing down and enjoying a delicious meal instead of bolting your food. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: ElCicco's Quick Questions interview.)

ElCicco's Reviews:

It’s not good but it has good intentions

The Maid: A Novel by Nita Prose

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Cbr17bingo Work The Maid is a mystery that features a main character named Molly Gray who is a maid at the swanky Regency Grand Hotel and who is on the autism spectrum, even though author Nita Prose never tells us so outright. Molly is socially awkward and has difficulty reading social cues. She takes things very literally, adheres strictly to her schedule, and is a rule follower. In the past, her Gran, who raised her, helped Molly interpret the puzzling statements and actions of the […]

Crivens!

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

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Cbr17bingo Borrow Wintersmith is the third book in Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series. Tiffany is a girl who knows about making cheese and tending sheep and who also happens to be a witch. Despite her young age, she has demonstrated extraordinary abilities and attracted the attention of other witches, who have taken her on to teach her how to use her skills. The first two books were outstanding. They were full of action, danger and wild adventures, and they introduced the reader to the Nac […]

“…they and their deeds were dust and ashes, but this man and his words were immortal.“

Orlando A Biography by VIrgina Woolf

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CBR17bingo O I’ve wanted to read Orlando for some time. I knew it was a time travel novel about a character, Orlando, who not only lives for centuries but also changes gender. It was made into a movie starring Tilda Swinton back in the ‘90s, but I never saw it. Apparently, the movie is more “inspired by” the novel than a direct adaptation of it, which, having now read the book, makes sense. Not gonna lie, the novel, published in 1928, is unusual, and I’m […]

Do you follow the Beast or your better angels?

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

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Cbr17bingo N Every time I read a Pratchett novel, I am just awestruck, dumbfounded by the way he could write so eloquently and with such warmth and humor about some of the nastiest parts of the human condition. Night Watch, originally published in 2002, really hit me hard because it is just so weirdly timely. I read and reviewed Guards! Guards! (the first of the Watch novels) last year, and I know that there are several other books in the Watch series before Night Watch. […]

My first encounter with the source material

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

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Cbr17bingo Green I never read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a kid. Like many, my acquaintance with the story was from the 1939 film, which I always enjoyed watching even though the flying monkeys and Wicked Witch scared me. Later, in high school or college, I remember hearing that the original story was an allegory about turn-of-the-century American populism and the argument over whether or not the gold standard should be abandoned. You can read a bit about that theory here. Whether or not […]

Murderbot + ART = Joy!

Artificial Condition: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

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Cbr17bingo Favorite I’ve read this book, actually the whole existing Murderbot Diaries series, a few times, and I think I have reviewed it for CBR a couple of times, too. So it is definitely a favorite. Artificial Condition is the second book in the Murderbot series, the follow up to All Systems Red. Series 1 of the Murderbot Diaries just ended on Apple TV and I loved it. They made some changes from All Systems Red but they were changes that made sense for a […]



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