Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About blauracke

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Loves books. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: blauracke's Quick Questions interview.)

blauracke's Reviews:

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”

The Big Green Tent by Ludmila Ulitskaya

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This is the story of three boys who form a lifelong friendship after meeting in school in Moscow in the 1950s. As they grow up, they become part of the poor intelligentsia that has to hide books and other writings by authors who criticize the Soviet Union, that has to avoid being seen with certain people, or doing or saying the wrong things in general, so as not to be branded dissidents by the KGB which is always looking over everyone’s shoulder. Ulitskaya creates a […]

The Tygers of Wrath Are Wiser Than the Horses of Instruction

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

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A series of gruesome deaths occurs in a remote corner of southwestern Poland. Janina, an elderly woman who spends her time on astrology, translating William Blake, and animal rights, is convinced that the victims, all of them hunters, were murdered by animals taking revenge. Many elements of a conventional murder mystery can be found in this book: a revenge plot, someone taking justice into their own hands, means and opportunity aligning perfectly in a single moment. Others, like a true investigation or a pool of […]

Where Is Home When No One Is Home?

Behold the Many by Lois-Ann Yamanaka

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In 1913, three young sisters suffering from tuberculosis are sent for treatment to a Christian orphanage in the Kalihi Valley in Hawaii. Only the oldest, Anah, survives to grow up, marry and have children of her own, but all her life she is haunted by the loss of her family, and the dead seem determined to make her life miserable. This is one of the most beautiful and poetic books I’ve ever read but the beauty is blanketed so heavily by sadness and a sense […]

“Why, all the greatest magic comes down to blood. And who knows blood better than a woman?”

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

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Set in the Regency era, the book follows Zacharias Wythe, recently appointed Sorcerer Royal of England’s Unnatural Philosophers, who has to contend not only with rising opposition against his rule from his fellow sorcerers, but also a mysterious drain on the available magic in the country. Political crises, the question of women’s magic use, and the unstable relationship with Fairyland on which England depends for its influx of magic are all problems he must solve. On the surface, this is a pretty standard fantasy romp […]

There’s a Reason for Every Relationship

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li

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A collection of ten short stories, this is a poignant and honest look at the lives of utterly ordinary people that play out in front of cultural constraints and political intrusions. Topics like the relationship between husband and wife, filial duty, the families that we make ourselves, and the societal expectations that put shackles on even the most human experiences are explored in a somber but touching way. Almost all of these stories are amazing, and it’s hard for me to pick a favourite. The […]

Keep hold of what you love…

Record of a Night Too Brief by Hiromi Kawakami

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Someone travels through the night in a place where anything can and apparently will happen, a sister mourns her older brother who disappeared shortly before his wedding, and a woman steps on a snake which then moves in with her. This is a collection of three surrealistic novellas that are loosely connected by the themes of love and loss. Reading this is a real experience, it’s going through the rabbit hole and just having to roll with anything that happens afterwards. The first story is […]



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