ingres77 – Page 20 – Cannonball Read 17

In an alternate world, chalk is the first line of defense against evil

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

March 7, 2020 by ingres77 Leave a Comment

So, I read this a couple months ago, but somehow forgot to review it (I thought I did, but I can’t find it anywhere). I remember it fairly well, but some of my more detailed impressions have probably disappeared. Somewhat surprisingly, from Brandon Sanderson, this is a young adult alternate history book. When colonists first arrived in the Americas, they found a vast archipelago uninhabited by humanity. Instead, they found dangerous “wild chalklings” everywhere. King Gregory III (again, alternate history) discovered the magic used in […]

Never doubt Brandon Sanderson

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

March 7, 2020 by ingres77 1 Comment

(This is a review for the second part of a series. There will be spoilers for prior installments.) I enjoyed the first book in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, but I walked away from it feeling that I had missed the boat on fully enjoying the series. If I had read it during my peak epic fantasy years (late teens), I think I would’ve gotten more out of it. narfna didn’t think that age, generally, was an impediment to the enjoyment of this series. After reading […]

If only I had read this when it came out.

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

February 21, 2020 by ingres77 5 Comments

I have probably tried reading this book three times over the years, and I was never able to make it far. For my first attempt, I tried the audiobook but didn’t like the narrator. The second time, I forgot that I tried reading it before, and still didn’t like the narrator. The third time, I tried reading the actual book – but had to slog through the part I had previously read, because it had been long enough that I didn’t remember the story well […]

Short story review dump (Part III)

Mono no aware by Ken Liu

The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu

The Hofzinser Club by Michael Chabon

The Baboon War by Nnedi Okorafor

Childfinder by Octavia E. Butler

The Five-Forty-Eight by John Cheever

February 21, 2020 by ingres77 Leave a Comment

Mono no Aware by Ken Liu (5 stars) Mono no aware is a Japanese phrase meaning “the pathos of things”. It’s the bittersweet feeling of sadness at the impermanence of things, a careful blend of appreciation and sadness that nothing can last forever. It’s the phrase I didn’t know that I needed in my life – but I think I do, because I experience it fairly often. I think it’s one of the reasons I love Haruki Murakami’s work so much. There is a delicate […]

Short story review dump (Part II)

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Little Man by Michael Cunningham

Escape from New York by Zadie Smith

Alan Bean Plus Four by Tom Hanks

Miss Marple Tells a Story by Agatha Christie

Accident by Agatha Christie

February 21, 2020 by ingres77 Leave a Comment

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (5 stars) Published in 1892, The Yellow Wallpaper tells the story of a woman, the narrator, suffering from depression. The treatment imposed on her by her husband is bed rest, and she is largely confined to a room with Yellow Wallpaper. Instead of easing her turmoil, deeper psychological issues manifest, and she is eventually driven mad by the confinement. This is an utterly haunting depiction of mental illness compounded by a deeply patriarchal society that sought to protect […]

2019 CBR11 stats update!

January 27, 2020 by ingres77 6 Comments

So, I sat down to compile the 2019 stats the other day anticipating a week and a half of drudgery. Drudgery I would get some degree of nerd pleasure out of, but still drudgery. Only to discover that – none of my XML formula’s (that I use to harvest data from this website, which I then turn into the CBR database) worked. So I pulled up the home page, and find that everything looks different. Uh oh. After verifying my code strings, and making a […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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