Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About bjornsnipe

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Books have been a part of my life from a very young age . I'm currently being ruled over by 3 cats (Rafferty, Bodhi Rook & Yersinia Pestis), who I can mostly get not to chew on book covers. Lately, I'll read anything, though Science Fiction and Romance will always be on the bottom of the pile.

bjornsnipe's Reviews:

“Toby, please stop punching Etienne in the head. It’s not helping.”

Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire

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Ah, the continuing saga of Toby Daye getting kicked in the teeth. After the events of last book, Toby now has to deal with her friends being poisoned, her death getting ever closer, the Luidheag not talking to her, four of five people who just need a fresh one across the face, and the possibility she’s slowly going insane; just another day in San Francisco. Rereading the series, I’ve started noticing how many books have Toby behind the eight ball for most of the plot. […]

“He also has only nine months to live, although he doesn’t know it yet.”

The Life of Chuck by Stephen King

by 1 Comment

Based on the African proverb “When an old man dies, a library burns down” and the line from Walt Whitman’s poem Song of Myself “I am large, I contain multitudes”, The Life of Chuck is about the life of Charles “Chuck” Krantz, told backwards from his death to his early childhood, and how his death is causing the death of the universe held inside of him. Setting aside the contents for a moment, you have to love any book with Tom Hiddleston on the cover. […]

“Death was pain and sickness, and terror of the long, blind, last step.”

Paragon Walk (A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel, #3) by Anne Perry

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This was like the two books before it in the series, an ok book; not good, not bad, just ok. It’s a low ok, because for a book that was originally published 44 years ago, and the edition I read was first printed 14 years ago, this had the most errors I have read in a book in a long time; you would think someone in all the years might have pointed them out and the type might have been corrected. Thomas and Charlotte both […]

“The cynical would say there was only one reason a high-profile specialist finally took up the cause. On June 7, 1925, the first male employee of the United States Radium Corporation died.”

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore

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Having been curious about the “Radium Girls”, it was interesting to read a book dedicated solely to them (I had previously read about them in passing in both The Poisoner’s Handbook and A Beautiful Poison). I just wish the writing was not so “rah! rah! rah! Stars and Stripes Forever”, going into the plucky, industrious, indomitable spirit of the women. So basically I spent the entire book having either or in my mind and it was slightly distracting. And also horrible, because this is not […]

“I am so tired of this gothic crap,” I muttered. “Just once, I want to meet the villain in a cheerful, brightly lit room. Possibly one with kittens.”

An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire

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This was the book that almost made me stop reading the October Daye series the first time I read it, still hated it the second time I read, and the third time is no better. It’s not just that this is one of the most dark and depressing books in the series (though it is), it’s not just that the entire book comes across as Toby being constantly behind the eight ball; it’s just bleak and disturbing and not the least bit fun to read […]

“Shiloh isn’t haunted – men are haunted. Shiloh doesn’t care.”

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

by 4 Comments

I am just not sure if I can see what the big deal is with this book. I know some people find it incredibly frightening: a co-worker stole my mother’s copy of this book off her desk and then didn’t come to work for four days because she was too scared to get out of bed; I just found it slightly boring. I know I didn’t find anyone in it the least bit likable. I felt like I had wandered into the middle of a […]



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