Bothari43 – Page 15 – Cannonball Read 17

Edward Gorey was a Buffy fan – what more do you need to know?

Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey by Mark Dery

March 13, 2021 by Bothari43 11 Comments

LONG PERSONAL SIDEBAR (skip to review if you want to miss the high school stories): In high school, we were supposed to write papers about our favorite poets for senior English class. I had long been a fan of Edward Gorey. I memorized the Gashlycrumb Tinies one night when Dad took my brother and me to a science fiction club meeting. We stayed downstairs playing Super Nintendo while the grownups geeked out upstairs, and that evening’s host had a Gashlycrumb Tinies poster hanging in the […]

A Cannonball Book Exchange treat courtesy of narfna

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

March 9, 2021 by Bothari43 10 Comments

I don’t know what I can say about this one that y’all haven’t already said! I’m very late to the party, but am enjoying myself immensely anyway. Murderbot is supposed to be a mindless security unit, doing whatever the company or the clients who rented it tell it to do. Murderbot hacked itself so it doesn’t have to follow anybody’s instructions, but cares just enough about its job protecting the humans that it half-heartedly does that job anyway, in between watching all its favorite TV […]

A romance trope hidden in a fantasy novel

Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn

March 5, 2021 by Bothari43 Leave a Comment

Sharon Shinn is always dependable. I know that doesn’t sound like high praise, but sometimes you just need something solid that you know you’ll enjoy, and this fit the bill. She’s got good characters, interesting (if sometimes a little unoriginal) plots, and happy endings (and terrible covers, good god!). Zoe lives with her father in a tiny town far from the capital city. Her father used to be advisor to the king, but after a disagreement and falling out, he was exiled and ran away […]

I don’t like science, I don’t like nonfiction, but I loooove Georgia Hardstark

The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean

February 26, 2021 by Bothari43 1 Comment

Georgia from My Favorite Murder recommended Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time, which is one of my favorite books in my CBR history. So when she recommended a book about the history of the periodic table of the elements, I decided to check it out despite its non-fictionness. I was expecting stories that just happened to tie in elements, but this is straight up history. Who discovered which elements, how they did it, how those elements are used today, who won which Nobel Prize, and so […]

Quick Questions with a Cannonballer: dsbs42

February 22, 2021 by Bothari43 18 Comments

How many times have you participated in CBR? Has it changed the way you read? This is my fourth CBR. I participated a lot early on just for fun (completely missed two in a row and then decided to lower my expectations to a half Cannonball, which I did manage) but got overwhelmed with the reviewing portion and watched from afar for a while. I decided to jump back in for a full Cannonball this year because I read so little last year (between general […]

Don’t you hate it when you’ve hit the ripe old age of 29 and have experienced all the world has to offer, so you rip a hole in reality so you can cavort with pain demons just for a change of pace?

Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

February 19, 2021 by Bothari43 2 Comments

(Trigger warnings for various unsavoriness.) I like my horror with a heaping helping of cheese (Slither, Night of the Comet, Cabin in the Woods), so I have never read any Clive Barker, and I’ve never seen Hellraiser. So when my sci-fi library book club picked Hellbound Heart, the book the movie Hellraiser is based on, I was not sure what to expect. I mean, I was expecting gross stuff and a guy with pins in his face, but I was not expecting such unlikeable characters. […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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