Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Tracy

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40-something psychologist living with a husband, toddler, and 2 cats.

Tracy's Reviews:

An Innovative Take on a Classic Fantasy Theme

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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It’s impossible to avoid the allusions and parallels, both implicit and explicit, between Piranesi and other fantasy novels. After all, there’s a quote from C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew right at the beginning of the novel. But somehow this novel feels new, maybe because of how it’s narrated. We get the perspective of the character of Piranesi from inside a world that is the only world he remembers, rather than the perspective of an outsider visiting a world that’s new to them. The book is […]

Adventures in Space That Live up to the Hype

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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I’ve been itching to read this since I finished The Martian, and my expectations did not let me down. I was so surprised by the unexpected event that occurs partway through the book – not a twist, but not something I was expecting, and it was so exciting! I’m trying to avoid spoilers, as you can see. The book starts with Ryland Grace waking up with amnesia from a coma and discovering that he is on a spaceship and that that spaceship is not in […]

A Gentle, Heartwarming Story of Magic and Humanity

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

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TJ Klune manages to weave the mundane and fantastical together in this heartwarming novel. Linus Baker is a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY), which registers and tracks magical children (and later adults with the Department in Charge of Magical Adults – DICOMA). He visits orphanages of magical children to make sure they are being well-run, and when he’s not out on field assignments, he’s one of hundreds of drudges toiling away at desks in DICOMY. He has no life to […]

Crowley and Aziraphale Are the Best Part of Good Omens

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

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The demon Crowley (initially Crawly, the snake who tempted Eve) and the angel Aziraphale have known each other since the creation of the universe. They’ve developed a friendship, even though outwardly they would seem to have, and perhaps should have, different views on life. However, they have come to enjoy the life they live on earth, and they aren’t looking forward to the Antichrist coming of age (age 11) and bringing about Armageddon. Most of the novel is set in the few days leading up […]

I Guess I’ll Have to Watch the Movie Now

The Martian by Andy Weir

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I started The Martian knowing very little about it because I haven’t seen the movie or read reviews of the book. It starts with Mark Watney being stranded on Mars and believed dead when a sandstorm necessitates his crew’s leaving only 6 days into what should have been a 31-day mission. The majority of the novel is told from Mark’s POV via log entries he writes. At first I thought the book was going to be all about how Mark was growing potatoes in a […]

A Disappointing Follow Up to Mort

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett

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I know Reaper Man is a really well-liked book in the Death subseries of Discworld, but it just didn’t do much for me. I didn’t find it as funny as Mort, and there was more time spent with other characters than with Death in a plot that I just wasn’t all that interested in. In this novel, Death is perceived to have developed too much of a personality and is therefore forced to “retire” and will eventually die, and a new Death will take his […]



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