denesteak – Page 3 – Cannonball Read 17

A world where only cats tell the truth!

Saga Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga Volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

December 16, 2019 by denesteak Leave a Comment

Let me be clear — I read these ages ago. And I’m writing a review for them months after the fact. So this will not be the best/clearest/most coherent reviews for a truly awesome series, but I’ll do the best I can. Sage Volume Two introduces Marko’s parents… … who drop into the fleeing couple’s ship unannounced. Marko and his mother immediately take off to a different planet to retrieve their “babysitter”, the ghoul Isabel, while Alana is left with his dad — her now-father-in-law. It […]

Finally embarking on this “space opera” journey thanks to you guys

Saga Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

August 18, 2019 by denesteak 4 Comments

CBR11bingo: And So It Begins It was a time of war. Isn’t it always. Volume 1 of Saga kicks off with Alana giving birth to a baby as Marko talks her through it. The two are lovers from two different worlds which have been warring for as long as anyone can remember — but politics is not at the forefront of the couple’s minds. They are more keenly aware of their newborn’s traits, like how she has Alana’s wings and Marko’s horns, but her eye colour […]

‘lines of a story I’ll rewrite and understand on a future rereading’

Sidewalks by Valeria Luiselli

July 8, 2019 by denesteak Leave a Comment

CBR11bingo: The Collection My first experience with Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli was her evocative, heart-wrenching run-down of a questionnaire she had to translate when interviewing children seeking asylum in the US for the New York court system. I still think of Tell Me How It Ends frequently, which is what pushed me to seek out more of her writing. Sidewalks is a collection of her essays (heyo, first Bingo square!!), translated from Spanish by Christina MacSweeney. Much of Luiselli’s writing feels very nostalgic, almost like she’s […]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Nora Roberts-fied

Year One by Nora Roberts

Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts

June 30, 2019 by denesteak 2 Comments

CBR11 #2: Year One by Nora Roberts My first Nora Roberts! The two books were a gift from my friend who’s a huge Nora Roberts fan, and she thought Year One could be a good entry point because I’m a real sucker for dystopia fiction. It starts out with a family vacation in Scotland, when a peasant is shot and falls right in the middle of a stone circle, and its blood seeps into the frosted ground. What appears to be a regular hunting expedition turns deadly […]

Shades of grey in Afghanistan, where the truth is elusive

No Good Men Among the Living by Anand Gopal

May 2, 2019 by denesteak 2 Comments

Man, I’ve been terrible at this reviewing thing, hey? No better way to get back into it than to just jump straight in. Close to a decade ago, when I was agitating to do “real journalism” I was semi-obsessed with reading books about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. I was more concerned about the writers’ inner lives, and yearned to understand how they handled these stressful situations — against the backdrop of devastating American-backed wars. And now, I have little patience for such naval-gazing (Jeffrey […]

“The world in my head has been far more real than the one outside”

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

December 1, 2018 by denesteak Leave a Comment

It’s a real shame I’ve been so terrible about reviewing because there’s been some serious gems that I’ve read this year… and I would have ended 2018 without a single review for CBR10. Life has been very full, and I could have certainly leaned on that as an excuse. But a very kind message from Mswas convinced me to at least put some effort into reviewing the latest book I finished this week. I’ve been excited to read Akwaeke Emezi’s debut novel Freshwater months before I finally […]

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.

About denesteak