“His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools — the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans — and summed up all three of them in his famous phrase, ‘You can’t trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there’s nothing you can do about it, so let’s have a drink.” – Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett People have strong opinions about Terry Pratchett. He has an intimidatingly enormous body of work set within his fictional universe of Discworld. You could almost do […]
Longing and Living in Kentucky Farm Country
All the Living is a book set on a farm under a big sky, with a few people trying to figure out how they are supposed to live. The plot involves a young pianist named Aloma and her move to her boyfriend Orren’s farm when his family dies. She is ill suited to the environment and to the duties of farm wife, but over time adapts to the role, cleaning the broken down pile of a farm house and teaching herself to cook. Raised as […]
Art as Ambassador
“In life you’ll meet a lot of jerks. If they hurt you, tell yourself that it’s because they’re stupid. That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty. Because there is nothing worse than bitterness and vengeance… Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself.” – Persepolis I mentioned in my last review that I’ve been reading books for this Cannonball, so far, that are out of date. I mean that they are books published within the last ten to twenty years, but […]
Such Stuff as Dreams are Made on
“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.” – Oscar Wilde (opening quote in The Night Circus) I’m on something of a streak of reading books that everyone else discovered years ago, and then being surprised when they’re great. The word “delightful” is overused – I heard that on NPR I think – but it describes this book perfectly. The Night Circus is pure delight. I don’t […]
I Should Pay More Attention to Hype
Room was a big deal when it came out a couple of years ago. If you tend to stay current with popular fiction, you’ve probably heard of it. I saw this book on a “recommended” shelf at my local library, and I vaguely remembered the buzz about it. I had zero interest in it back then, so I’m not sure why I picked it up this time. The subject matter is just not appealing to me: the main characters are a woman kept captive for […]
Unusual Heroines
We Are All Welcome Here is a story about extraordinary women. The book is set in the summer of 1964 in Tupelo, Mississippi, and it is told from the perspective of fourteen-year-old Diana Dunn. Diana’s mother, Paige, is a quadriplegic from polio contracted while she was pregnant. She is only able to move her head. Peacie has been Paige’s caregiver since Diana was born. Diana has a lot of responsibility in assisting with her mother’s care. The story follows this unusual family through an eventful […]