One of the difficulties of studying history lies in the inherent tendency of people to not see themselves as playing a small role in a larger story. We are all the center of our own universe, after all, so it’s hard to remember that everything isn’t actually revolving around our own brilliance. Our actions are our own, but they make up a part of the larger trajectory of human progress. In studying history, the goal is to compose these fine details into a larger picture […]
Year end stat round-up extravaganza!
First: December goodies. 368 reviews (+241% from last month) Average rating: 3.72 stars (+2.4%) Most popular book: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and Kulti by Mariana Zapata (4 reviews; 4.00 and 5.00 avg, respectively) Most popular author: Madeleine L’Engle and Tana French (5 reviews; 4.20 and 4.60 avg, respectively) Most reviews: NTE (congratulations!; 42 reviews) Fiction: 120 reviews (+253%) Nonfiction: 65 reviews (+51%) Uncategorized: 2 reviews (same as last month) Most popular genre: Fantasy (80 reviews) Male authors: 127 (219%) Female authors: 225 (+346%) […]
Officially did not finish list of 2016
So, I’m totally stealing this idea from NTE. These are the books I attempted, but wasn’t able to finish (for one reason or another). I really like the idea of including these books in my Cannonball, if for no other reasons than they still warrant some discussion. In no particular order: Dracula, by Bram Stoker (4 stars) I loved Stoker’s writing, and the book had a beautifully sinister atmosphere to it. It’s not hard to understand, reading this, why the book resonated so strongly with […]
Atwood’s writing is the elegance of despair
Damn. Look, we all love reading. And it’s probably also true that most of us want to, at some point, write a book, right? That’s not just me? Well, this book covers a lot of ground the ground that I had cleared for a book I’ve been playing around with. And though I’ll probably never write a book, that’s still disheartening. So this disappointment kind of hovers over this entire review, like a black cloud of self-doubt and broken dreams. Also, I approached this book […]
It’s a travesty this has only been reviewed once before (thanks, bonnie!)
I would love to rhapsodize about this book, but I’m kind of pressed for time (doubt I’ll be able to write this review before Christmas, and I don’t want to hold off since I just finished this book and it’s fresh in my mind). The best way I can describe this, I think, is to say that The Way of Shadows (2008) a bit like The Name of the Wind (2007) by Patrick Rothfuss mixed with an Assassin’s Creed video game. Azoth is an impoverished child […]
I kept expecting a wizard, but all I got was Richard Nixon.
The aura that surrounds John F. Kennedy is, by itself, worthy of enough attention to warrant a book all by itself. From his familial history to his infamous relationship with women to his storied political career and untimely, traumatizing assassination, few Americans are both so well known and mysterious. I’ve stated before my intention to read a biography on every president. This goal grew out of a plan to rank every president (plus Jefferson Davis) by various criteria. I generally have that done already, but […]
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