Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Mixed Bag of Newest Collection by Chiang, but Still Enjoyed

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

by Leave a Comment

Well, I think that all in all I had a mixed reaction to this newest collection of short stories by Chiang. Some were pitch perfect. Others went on too long and just had a garbled message in my opinion. I still love how he talks about things such as fate, faith, love, and even touches upon how technological advancements does not always equal making things better for human beings or other species. Per usual, here are my individual ratings for the short stories. “The Merchant […]

An Eden of dangerous things.

Florida by Lauren Groff

by Leave a Comment

I don’t generally read a lot of short story collections. When I do, I prefer the ones that have some kind of thread that tie them together. This book fit that particular bill. While each of the stories in this collection have something to do with the state of Florida, the thread that I found the most intriguing was parenthood. What does it mean to parent? How much of one’s identity is tied up in the role of parent? Is there a limit to what […]

The sea section

Calypso by David sedaris

by Leave a Comment

I feel compelled to quote not the book but the back cover blurb because Lauren Hubbard said it best: “Age and family occupy beloved humorist Sedaris’s latest collection of essays. His observations feel sharper and often darker than in previous collections, as he ponders the inevitable breakdown of the human body, the shame attendant with illness and age, the nature of addiction, and the eccentricities of his family. Though middle age may have made his shades of gray blacker, the wit and incisiveness that make […]

Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

by Leave a Comment

I’ve seen Arrival and liked it but didn’t read the story collection it’s drawn from. There’s about ten movies in this book to be made and they should all be very good. There’s two basic kinds of stories in this collection. Very very short ones that explore a singular idea for a few pages and then leave off. These tend to be interesting, but ultimately small and not completely fulfilling. And then there’s longer stories that present a conceit to work through, but also works […]

Rich People Problems

You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

by Leave a Comment

  I needed a bit of a palate cleanser, and short story collections almost always fit that bill nicely. I had already read Prep by the same author years ago. I remember liking it, but not really identifying with the characters very well, they were a little too outside my personal experience. I had kind of the same feeling with some of the stories in this collection. A lot of them are really great, and overall I did like this collection, but Sittenfeld does tend […]

They had opposed the marriage to my mother, I understood.

Winter Count by Barry Lopez

Cast a Cold Eye by Mary McCarthy

Tell Me a Riddle by Tillie Olsen

A Blue Tale and Other Stories by Marguerite Yourcenar

by Leave a Comment

Winter Count – 4/5 Stars This is a small collection of mostly atmospheric and impressionistic short fiction, more sketches than stories, by the travel and nature writer Barry Lopez. He is most famous for his longer nonfiction like Of Wolves and Men, Arctic Dreams, and you might be hearing his name more prominently in the next few months based on early reviews of his latest book, Horizon. This book is a series of small fictions that mostly deal with little moments, painted scenes, character sketches, […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo