Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Ale

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I'm TAing in creative writing, and I'm in the midst of editing my first novel. Along with CBR, I have book reviews published with "The Literary Review," short essay with "Fiction Southeast" and a forthcoming publication with "The Book Smuggler's Den." CBR has definitely helped my writing skills since now I know what readers are looking for for in their works. So, thank you, CBR! Hopefully someday, we'll be able to review my novel on this blog. :) (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Ale's Quick Questions interview.)

Ale's Reviews:

Are We Human or Rabbit?

Watership Down by Richard Adams

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While my father’s bedtime stories to me were Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, my husband’s father read him Watership Down. It’s a book I’d never heard of before meeting him, and as it was a huge part of his childhood, I felt I should finally get around to it. In a word, this book is about rabbits. On a larger scale, this book is about a journey, not unlike the hobbits’ trek in Lord of the Rings. But if you’re looking at this book metaphorically […]

Clothing Westeros

Game of Thrones: Costumes - The Official Book Seasons 1 - 8 by Michele Clapton

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Because Faintingviolet loves me and totally feeds my addictions, I was gifted this amazing costume reference guide from the Game of Thrones series for Christmas. Written by costumer, Michele Clapton herself, the book is almost as long and comprehensive as GRRM’s series. Complete with full color professional photographs, closeups of the costumes, and some of Clapton’s original drawings, this book was an excellent study in both costuming and the intense process that goes into bringing the written word to screen. Clapton goes through each of […]

All the President’s Women

They Fought Like Demons by DeAnne Blanton & Lauren M. Cook

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I was never personally interested in the American Civil War until I joined a reenactment unit and started going out to events. Even then, I was fine with just talking about the home front and staying far, far away from the intricacies of the military and battle histories that so many of my male compatriots spent their time on. However, the more I learned in the hobby, the more I realized my disinterest in most things about the Civil War was because the focus was […]

The Most Comprehensive Writing Guide

Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway

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  Teaching writing has introduced me to so many resources that would have been beyond helpful when I was bumbling around as a stupid twenty-something trying to figure out how to write. I guess it’s better late than never. My mentor introduced me to Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction, last semester, and good God, if only I had had this book ten years ago…. Broken down into comprehensive chapters on everything from point-of-view, setting, characterization, and revising, Burroway takes a no-holds barred approach to guiding young writers […]

The New Era of Speculative Fiction

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

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I’ve sworn off reading trilogies/series for the past few years since I tend to either get totally obsessed or very bored. But after reading Jemisin’s short fiction collection last year, I knew I needed to read her novels. The Fifth Season did not disappoint, and I can’t wait to read the rest of The Broken Earth trilogy. The Fifth Season revolves around a world built on active volcanoes, which means there are often ‘seasons’ of cataclysmic disasters. These ‘seasons’ are documented and passed down to the surviving […]

Man’s Greatest Mistake is Underestimating Women

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott

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While the title and the cover art would have one presuming this was some terrible historical romance novel, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy is actually an amazingly researched, heavily detailed historical non-fiction about four women’s contributions to the outcome of the American Civil War.  The book follows two unionists, Emma Edmonds (aka Frank Thompson) and Elizabeth Van Lew, and two secessionists, Belle Boyd and Rose Greenhow, through the five years of the war, along with a summation of their lives after the war ends as well. The […]



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