Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About TheShitWizard

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Drinking tea, reading books, petting cats. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: TheShitWizard's Quick Questions interview.)

TheShitWizard's Reviews:

I’m longing for a better attention span

Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen

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I don’t know about you, but since lockdown started I’ve really struggled to read anything. My scattered brain keeps wandering off to poke and worry at other things, and suddenly books I’d normally tear through are being read over months instead. I’m really missing my escapes into books and so, in an attempt to get my reading mojo back, I turned to the poetry of one of my favourites. I’ve been a fan of Leonard Cohen for a very long time so it was no […]

I’ll never get bored of reading of Troy

The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley

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Supposedly some other story is The Greatest Ever Told, but as far as I’m concerned it’s the story of the siege and fall of Troy that deserves that title. I’ll take my Troy tales in whatever form I can find them – The Firebrand gave it to me from the perspective of the women, Kassandra in particular, that made a refreshing change with Bradley weaving classic elements of the myth with her own inventions into a take that was mostly successful. Our titular Firebrand is […]

Making me grateful to be locked down…

Skeletons on the Zahara by Dean King

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When life gets a little tough for me, I tend to turn to non-fiction books about situations much worse than mine that people have survived – this usually helps to change my perspective a little and make me appreciate what I have, rather than what I don’t. Normally a dedicated introvert, even I have started to struggle a little with lockdown (helped by working from home) and so a little perspective adjusting was in order – this book fulfilled that perfectly. Skeletons on the Zahara […]

But what have you done for me lately?

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

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What to say about this book? Mantel’s skill with words make mine seem utterly inadequate to express just how fantastic this book and the entire Cromwell trilogy is. The Mirror and the Light opens after the execution of Ann Boleyn and deals with the period from then until Cromwell’s death. This Cromwell is somewhat older and more experienced, and can see the sands shifting beneath his feet as he’s no longer able to give Henry what he wants, when he wants it, and the court […]

Where did my reading time go?

The Book of Ballads and Sagas by Charles Vess

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I actually read this weeks ago, but working in healthcare during a pandemic has meant that all of the free time that others are desperately trying to fill during isolation has gone up in smoke for me and has also rid my brain of any remotely intelligible thoughts, but I’ll give it a whirl. The Book of Ballads and Sagas is a collaboration between Charles Vess and numerous other writers, such as Neil Gaiman, Jeff Smith, Sharyn McCrumb, Jane Yolen and others. Each writer takes […]

I need this band to be real now

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Throughout my youth I was addicted to rock biographies. Loving those covering bands from the 60s and early 70s in particular, Daisy Jones and The Six could easily have been one of those I read all the way back then. Y’know, if they weren’t fictional. It’s a testament to how well this is written that at some point, I definitely crossed over into weird “they’re real and I must hear their music” territory. Daisy Jones and The Six charts the meteoric rise of the band […]



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