Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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CoffeeShopReader's Reviews:

What to do when both the title and the back blurb are lies

John Dies at the End by David Wong

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I’m not sure what I was expecting when I picked up John Dies at the End. I think maybe a little bit of Welcome to Night Vale mixed with Sandman Slim, and possible a bit of Men in Black. This book is not any of those things, either in combination or alone. I should also admit that I have not seen the movie, don’t remember having heard of it before, and definitely have no plans to ever watch it now. I did not really enjoy […]

Academic Fiction at it’s Best but also Worst

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

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It’s probably been 15 years since I’ve read anything substantial by Umberto Eco. I’m pretty sure I was maybe a sophomore or junior in college the first time I read The Name of the Rose. Now, I find myself in the position of needing to reread it for a work-related event. In the intervening decade and a half, I’ve gotten a lot better at Latin, and I’ve also been exposed to a lot more primary source material concerning theology, philosophy, science, literature, and history of the […]

If you want to appreciate this, read the Mahabharata first.

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

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I wish I liked this more. The basic premise is interesting, and the twist that isn’t that shocking actually makes for good future suspense. 11 or 12 year old Aru is trying to impress some kids from school and lights the cursed lamp her mom told her never to touch, and it turns out she releases the Sleeper a demon (I think that’s what he is, given the info on his origins revealed part way through, it’s a little unclear) who wants to gather an […]

The cookbook I never knew I always wanted, mostly

Smith & Deli-Cious: Food from Our Deli (that Happens to be Vegan) by Shannon Martinez and Mo Wyse

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This is a thing I didn’t know I had been waiting for: a vegan cookbook that has no shame in noting that one of the authors and apparently main recipe developer is not vegan! According to the intro, which also does the standard how to stock a vegan pantry to use this book thing, both Mo Wyse and Shannon Martinez (who is the still not vegan- you are my peoples!- but likes the food and the challenge of adapting) were feeling limited by their single […]

Where have I seen this plot before?!?!

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

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Stop me if you’ve hear this before: mysterious giant metallic objects, robot/sculptures in this this case, suddenly appear all over the world and humanity at first freaks out, then adjusts. Upon further study, the unknowable objects, named Carls here, are revealed to have impossible properties, and thus maybe are not from Earth. Cue alien invasion debate/panic. A hero, April May in this case, who likely had something to do with the first contact believes that the Carls are not threatening, and works to figure out […]

Coffee Reading Lite

The Monk of Mokha by David Eggers

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As my CBR handle suggests, I like coffee shops, both for the lattes and the atmosphere. So when I was in Chicago recently, I wanted to try out one of the trendy places as my touristy thing. At Intelligentsia Coffee, I saw this book for sale. I didn’t buy it then. I saw the same book a few days later, this time in paperback, for sale at a publisher exhibit. I didn’t buy it then. I did however, upon my return home, acquire said book […]



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