jormis – Page 4 – Cannonball Read 17

Old before I become a god (a.k.a. Hadrien, no slacker)

Memoirs of Hadrien by Marguerite Yourcenar

October 28, 2020 by jormis 1 Comment

There were Five Good Emperors, so they say, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, ruling in what is called the golden era of the Roman empire. What is interesting is that they were not related, rather, from Trajan onward they were adopted heirs. Hadrian (Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, originally Publius Aelius Hadrianus) followed Trajan, during whose reign Rome’s empire was maybe at its largest. Where his predecessor was belligerent, Hadrian seeked a more peaceful reign, negotiated truces, and retreated from some strategically unsound […]

Inherit the Hate

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

October 27, 2020 by jormis 2 Comments

Unsurprisingly, my first exposure to Wuthering Heights was Kate Bush’s 1978 single, the namesake to the book. Based on listening to the chorus (never a lyrics listener, it’s the music that matters) you might think the book is romantic: Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy I’ve come home. I’m so cold Let me in-a-your window Maybe Cathy has run away from home to Heathcliff’s abode, situated in the middle of the moors. After letting Cathy in from a window (maybe the door’s broke, anyway it’s just […]

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

October 12, 2020 by jormis Leave a Comment

Kino, Juana and their baby, Coyotito, live in a shack by the sea. They are indigenous as opposed to the conquerors living in the city nearby. Kino is a pearl diver as his ancestors have for generations. The family scrapes by, barely – they are so poor that Kino and Juana cannot afford to get married, or even have a christening for Coyotito. When Kino wakes up in the early dawn, during cock-crowing, he looks at the stars in the sky and listens to the […]

Plus ça change

The Bromance Bookclub by Lyssa Kay Adams

Les liaisons dangereuses by Chodorlos de Laclos

October 9, 2020 by jormis Leave a Comment

The Bromance Bookclub is a preposterous and silly book, with a novel within a novel. It starts as with so many times before: a man alone in a hotel room – “face-planted on the carpet while reaching for the bottle.” This time it’s Gavin Scott, a baseball player in Nashville Legends. Then, someone’s banging the door – his team mates, Delroy Hicks and Yan Feliciano, and a third person, a nightclub owner and a metrosexual Braden Mack. They’ve come to rescue poor Gavin from his […]

Bootstrapping a nation one letter at a time.

The Postman by David Brin

June 17, 2020 by jormis Leave a Comment

Gordon Krantz has survived for 16 years after the one-week war which sapped the strength of America and the rest of the world. After the war came a three-year nuclear winter; it’s been colder than normally ever since. He was a soldier during the war, guarding vital food supplied while the world was burning around him and his squad. They failed. Gordon was the only one who survived. Since then he’s been drifting westwards, learning to survive, avoid radiation hot spots, loot like in Fallout […]

From Shrimp Sniffing to French Kissing

dibs by Allison Martine

June 3, 2020 by jormis Leave a Comment

An imaginary excerpt from the diary of one Olivia Markham: Hello, I am Olivia Markham, a Southern Territory Executive at Ranchers, a non-profit organisation which is like the Scouts. I am entering the autumn years of my life – I’m 27. I used to be a litigator, but after my divorce (he cheated) I wanted to break free from the past and the pain of feeling useless and unwanted so I decided to do something completely different. I have no life, nor self-esteem even though […]

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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