Caesar’s Wife – Page 24 – Cannonball Read 17

BIGFOOT!

Devolution by Max Brooks

July 28, 2020 by Caesar's Wife 1 Comment

… Or, more accurately, BIGFEET. Wait! Don’t go! I know it sounds silly but trust me, this was a good read! Max Brooks, who brought genuine terror and superior storytelling to the Zombie genre, has now turned his sights on the Sasquatch. And he does a bloody great job of it. Here’s the premise: A group of privileged folk (artists, authors, wealthy vegan tech types) are living out their homesteading, off-grid fantasy in the very small eco-community called Greenloop in the mountains near Seattle. They […]

Timely.

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

July 26, 2020 by Caesar's Wife Leave a Comment

Survivor Song tells the story of a rabies-like epidemic through the lens of a friendship between the very-pregnant-and-freshly-bitten Natalie, and the fiercely-independent-and-protective-pediatrician Ramola. Natalie and Ramola have been friends since their days in college, and I found this to be a touching and realistic portrayal of a friendship forged in late-night chats over wine and cheese boards – a friendship that changes slowly as the women grow up and discover more about themselves, and then rapidly as the story progresses. In the opening pages of […]

Snow Dice

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

July 23, 2020 by Caesar's Wife Leave a Comment

For my first CBR Bingo read, I choose the ‘UnCannon’ card (a book not written by an old white man) and eagerly started Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games prequel: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The book follows the final teenage years of the future President Snow’s life. Remember him? The evil villain who taunted and terrorised young Katniss Everdeen in the original Hunger Games trilogy? This book attempts to answer the question that nobody asked: what was Coriolanus Snow like as a young man? Well, for […]

The Big Short

If It Bleeds by Stephen King

July 2, 2020 by Caesar's Wife 2 Comments

If It Bleeds is ostensibly a new collection of short stories by the master storyteller, Stephen King. But it didn’t read like a collection of short stories to me, as King deftly compacted the richness of a novel into each short tale. He confidently weaves whole worlds together between each page. The first story, Mr Harrigan’s Phone, tells a story of a small-town teenager who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a reclusive retired billionaire. Mr Harrigan introduces teenager Craig to the world of Hemingway, […]

Perspiration Inspiration

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

June 10, 2020 by Caesar's Wife Leave a Comment

For the last five years, I’ve been grappling with the question: ‘Am I a Runner?’. Sure, I run, but does that make me a Runner? What’s the threshold for that? How is this identity obtained and defined? And I think maybe the litmus test, for me at least, is: Do you run? Did you enjoy reading and identify with ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’? My answer to both questions is a resounding Yes, so I think I can finally settle into […]

Literary Roadkill

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

May 29, 2020 by Caesar's Wife 2 Comments

Haunted is a series of short stories and poems, loosely related insofar as each is written from the perspective of different member of a group of degenerate sociopaths locked together in a masochistic “Writers’ Retreat”. **trigger warning** this review mentions some extreme and horrific aspects of the book, including miscarriage. The backbone of Haunted that ties each poem and short story together is a horrific three-month-long “Writers’ Retreat”. Each character with a poem and story to tell throughout the novel apparently answered a mysterious advertisement […]

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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