Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About GentleRain

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Your jack of all trades eccentric. Knows a little about a lot and a lot about a little. Tends to mainly read non-fiction (history, true crime, old gossip, etc), SF/F, horror, graphic novels, "genre" books. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: GentleRain's Quick Questions interview.)

GentleRain's Reviews:

Probably My Least Favorite Book of the Year

Three Tigers, One Mountain by Michael Booth

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CBR15Bingo: Guide (purports to be a guide to the relationship between China, Japan, and South Korea, and how to fix it) This is a DNF for me but I did read most of it out loud to my mom in a rage, so I feel qualified to write a review. I hated this book and think it’s completely biased and under-researched, and the fact that he is selling this book as a qualified insider type look into the relationship between these three countries is borderline […]

A Satisfying Sc-Fi Read

Mysterium by Robert Charles Wilson

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CBR15Bingo: You Are Here (The characters have no clue where they are and have to figure it out.) Every year or so I pick up a used Robert Charles Wilson novel and spend an enjoyable time reading it. It’s almost always a satisfying read and I feel contented by the mystery being solved. He tends to do a good job of presenting an interesting sci-fi idea and then wrapping things up in a neat bow or a little twist. This one dealt with inter-dimensional travel […]

Three Horror Short Story Collections

The Shores of Space by Richard Matheson

Everything's Eventual by Stephen King

Night Shift by Stephen King

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CBR15Bingo: Violence (plenty of violence here!) It’s interesting going back and doing these reviews a while after I read the books because I get to see what sticks around in my mind and what doesn’t. Say what you will about Stephen King, but his stories stay with you. There’s something about his ability to get across a strong visual image and have it embed itself in your brain forever. He really taps into something very primal with his writing, especially his earlier work. I am […]

Two Takes on Religion and Politics

Life On the Fringes by Haviva Ner-David

Take This Bread by Sara Miles

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                                                        CBR15Bingo: Politics (feminism, inter-community politics, personal politics) Both of these texts engage with what religion means to the writer and how they engage with their religious communities with a more radical and transformative mindset. Reading them in close succession was an interesting look into how feminist, progressive religious women struggle to find their place within structured organizations. However, they are coming from two very different faith traditions and two very different personalities as well. As someone who reacts strongly with the personality of the […]

A Strong Second Book in a Delightful Series

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher

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CBR15Bingo: On the Road (a lot of this book takes place on the road) I continue my slow progress through this trilogy, having read the first one about a year ago and loved it. I then got the next two for either Christmas or my birthday last year and then they sat on my shelf waiting for the opportune moment to strike and whisk me away to a delightful fantasy-romance-mystery realm. Well, last week was the time and I zipped right through this one. Honestly, […]

A Brief Collection of Great Photographs

The Photo Essay: Photographs by Mary Ellen Mark by Mary Ellen Mark

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CBR15Bingo: Africa (contains images and information about the Ethiopian famine of 1985) I love photojournalism / photo stories so I was interested to get this book of Mary Ellen Mark’s work. This is a series of books that the Smithsonian did of “photographers at work,” with this volume containing an interview with Mark and a variety of her photographs. I am a big Mary Ellen Mark fan so I was excited to get more insight into her process and how she approaches photography. The selection […]



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