Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

King Midas Must Fail

Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks

by Leave a Comment

My husband received this book as a birthday gift, and I was excited because of my fondness for Tom Hanks. I could quickly name, as many can, beloved movies starring Hanks – Splash, Big, Forrest Gump, A League of their Own… and many more. Since it seems that Hanks has the Midas touch, I was certain I would enjoy his book. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Uncommon Type is a book of fictional short stories, each, in some way, involving a typewriter. I’ve never been a […]

It’s essential that you behave as if your decisions matter, even though you know they don’t

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

by 3 Comments

Even if you haven’t ready any of Ted Chiang’s stories, you may already be familiar with his Nebula and Hugo Award-winning work “Story of Your Life,” which was adapted into the Academy Award-nominated film Arrival. I haven’t read that story (yet), but the concepts in the film intrigued me enough that when I heard about this new collection, I was eager to read it. If you have seen Arrival, you won’t be surprised that Chiang’s writing continues to explore ideas about time, free will, responsibility, and […]

Looking for a story about a man in love with a cannon?

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

by 4 Comments

…because have I got the book for you! Men loving cannons, zombies puking up pajamas, purses that can hold whole villages, horror writers that moonlight as upholsterers- this collection houses all of those freaks and geeks- and then some. The novella that gives this collection its title – Magic for Beginners– was the best of the bunch. It was difficult to single out one piece, as they are all delightful mix of suburban longing and creepy crawlies, but this piece reminded me of two of my […]

Breathing in a collection of sci-fi short stories by a master

Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang

by Leave a Comment

Exhalation: Stories is a collection of short sci-fi stories written by Ted Chiang. Below is a short review of each story but over-all, Exhalation: Stories made me think. Collectively, each story forced upon a small crisis of identity in how I relate to technology in my own world, and I am a more self-aware person for it. Chiang created a collection of stories that all meshes together. No story feels out of place or like an intruder. “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”: An interesting and […]

“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed”

Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang

by Leave a Comment

To borrow from 30 Rock, I loved Arrival, as all right thinking people did, because I have two ears and a heart, don’t I? I had read the story that gives this collection its title in some science fiction best of collection shortly after its publication (it will drive me absolutely crazy that I can’t find where I initially read it to get an exact date, but it was at least ten years ago), and weirdly, about ten seconds into the movie before much happens, […]

“The moral of that story, I think, is that being poor will kill you.”

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

by Leave a Comment

It happened again. I excitedly picked up a book at the store, rushed it home, then let it sit in a pile for a few months. When I finally opened it days ago I was shocked (and not shocked at all simultaneously, really) that it was an oddly appropriate collection for today’s frightening world. The first page of the book is a quote from poet Elisabeth Hewer, and it lays the roadwork for the furious march within: “god should have made girls lethal when he […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo