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:

“People don’t often get murdered in banks. They’re usually rather difficult to escape from.”

A Drop of Corruption: An Ana and Din Mystery by Robert Jackson Bennett

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Continuing in the vein of the previous book, Ana Dolabra, the Empire’s most brilliant and mercurial detective, and her bemused assistant Dinios Kol, must solve a locked door mystery. This time it’s in the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach. However, what Ana and Din first believe to be an abduction turns out to be a murder, one with no discernible method or motive. Until they realize that this crime may be geared towards bringing down the Shroud, where the […]

“The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.”

Iron Flame (The Empyrean Saga #2) by Rebecca Yarros

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Well, I’ve hit Book Two, and it’s almost as good as the first, which I’ll take as a rare yet wonderous thing; I have read too many series where the first book is fantastic, and then we hit Disney’s Tower of Terror for the rest. There have been some changes in my opinions of the characters, some good, some bad. Dain, Mira, and Lilith (Violet’s mother) all grew on me over the book; I actually finished it not really wanting any of them to die. […]

“We cannot turn back time, but we can keep on living.”

Among the Burning Flowers: A Roots of Chaos Tale by Samantha Shannon

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(This is the third book in the series, and the second prequel.) Set a few years before The Priory of the Orange Tree, Among the Burning Flowers tells the story of how the Kingdom of Yscalin became under Draconic rule; told from the alternating points of view of Marosa, heir to the Yscali throne, her fiance Aubrecht Lievelyn of Mentendon, and Estina Melaugo, a former thief living elsewhere in Yscalin. This book proves why the Roots of Chaos series is  my preference in Samantha Shannon’s […]

“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion. —OSCAR WILDE”

The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective by Steven Johnson

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This book traces how the invention of dynamite by Alfred Nobel (who went on to start the Nobel Prizes) led to the birth of the anarchist movement, which in turn led to the birth of the modern forensics-driven law enforcement agencies. Concentrating heavily on Emma Goldman and Alexander “Sasha” Berkman, this is mostly set in New York City. I can say this was a highly researched, informative, not dryly written book that seemed to not be able to make up its mind about anarchism. Johnson […]

“After a certain age, you can pretty much do whatever takes your fancy. No one tells you off, except for your doctors and your children.”

The Thursday Murder Club: a novel by Richard Osman

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I read this book after seeing the movie so I pretty much knew how the plot was going to go, yet I was pleasantly surprised that the book and the movie are not 100% the same. Set at the idyllic retirement home of Coopers Chase (seriously, when I get old enough to retire find me a place like this), the Thursday Murder Club gathers to solve cold cases, mostly for their own enjoyment, and because none of them can really not be a bit busy-body. […]

“Why should you love him whom the world hates so? Because he love me more than all the world.”

Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival by Stephen Greenblatt

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It’s great reading a book where you’re not 100% sure what the author thought of his subject; it makes you not 100% what you think of the book. As you can’t tell from the title, Dark Renaissance is about Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare contemporary who had a brilliant albeit brief career, dying at the age of 29 during an alleged brawl over a bill. There is not a whole lot of information about Marlowe available (even the possible sole portrait of Marlowe has not been actually […]



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