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:

“Faith opened her book in good earnest and the full tide of death flowed everywhere around us.”

The Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People by John Kelly

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I love when you read two different books on the same events and you immediately pick up on the bias each other has. When I reviewed Padraic X. Scanlan’s Rot: An Imperial History of the Irish Famine, Scanlan held that the most Ireland could possibly blame England for was “misguided politics”; Kelly holds that the political decisions were the least they could be blamed for.Kelly also went far further into Irish history and culture, as well as the emigrant experience upon leaving Ireland, and how […]

“We have to burn brightly. We can’t burn forever”

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

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Hidden amongst mortals, the Fae carve out lives in the human world and small pockets of alternate space they’ve carved out called Knowes. When one of them decides to play “Faerie Bride” and take a human to their bed, a Changeling; half-human half-fae is born. Given the choice between their human side (and death) or their fae side (and never seeing their human parent again), most choose Fae. October “Toby” Daye was one of these. Barely tolerated by the fae for her halfblood status, she […]

“When history fails to shed light on the truth, myth creates its own.”

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

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No woman should be made to fear that she was not enough. This book is described as “Saint George and the Dragon but make it lesbian”;  I can somewhat see that. It does have basically the myth of Saint George and the Dragon at the heart of it; the Kingdom of Inys, one of the two main locales for the action, is basically founded on a variation of it, and it does certainly have lesbians in it. The basic story is that in the Kingdom […]

“I think there is just one kind of folks. Folks.”

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for- Atticus This is one of those books that I read at least once a year, and each time I find something new to appreciate in it. It also has the rare distinction of having one of the best and most accurate cinematic adaptions to date. (Seriously, To Kill A Mockingbird and Hogfather are the two off the top of my head you can say that of). My mother lent me her copy […]

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” ― Albert Einstein

Grimm's Fairy Tales Illustrated by Arthur Rackham by various, illustrations by Arthur Rackham

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This book is what it says on the tin; a collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, illustrated by Arthur Rackham. You have, of course, your old standbys; Rapunzel, Hansel and Grethel, The Bremen Town Musicians, Briar Rose, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The Fisherman and his Wife, The Goosegirl, The Valiant Tailor, Red Riding Hood, The Robber Bridegroom, Tom Thumb, Rumpelstiltskin, Ashenputtel (aka Cinderella), The Elves and the Shoemaker, Snowdrop (also known as Snow White) and The Golden Goose. And some rarer ones: The Youth Who Could […]

“As cynical as I can be, there’s always a part of me that believes in love and the fairy tale.”

Fairy Tales From Many Lands by various, illustrations by Arthur Rackham

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As the titles says, this book contains assorted stories from several countries; eleven in fact. Each country gets one story, except for Japan which gets three. They are: England: Jack the Giant-Killer. The reasonably well known “killed three with one blow: story that even Mickey Mouse covered, only a little bloodier. Scotland: The Battle of the Birds. Which you would think would be about a fight between birds, but it’s a rather strange tale about a king’s son and the adventures he has finding, losing, […]



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