Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“The making of this book was thus a process of discovery; as I think the reading of it will be.”

Interfaces by Edited by Ursula K. LeGuin and Virgina Kidd

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I was hoping that Ursula K. LeGuin being one of the anthology editors would counterbalance the fact that this anthology came on the tail end of the 1970s (published in 1980), but I still felt like the overall quality was iffy and reflective of all my prior stated issues with this era of SF/F. LeGuin and Kidd’s taste did lead to more stories that I enjoyed, but I still skimmed in sections and this wasn’t a keeper for me. Interfaces is a themeless anthology, and […]

“The first thing I hate is called a Russian doll. It holds a smaller version of itself inside it, and another inside that and so on. How awful. They are prisoners. I imagine them all screaming in the dark, unable to move or speak. The doll’s face is broad and blankly smiling. It looks so happy to be holding its children captive.”

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

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So after a night where this book sat in my subconscious probably doing things to me, I’m upping my rating to five stars. I can’t stop thinking about it, and the ending did what I want more horror endings to to do for me. There are quite a few people who experience a sort of literary catharsis with the presence of violence and gore, but I am not one of those people (and maybe they don’t even care about catharsis! who knows!). This book has […]

This book has reached its expiration so I have taken it off my shelves.

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, #1) by Patrick Ness

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Not for me, I’m sure it was great. (Or was it???) I might have liked this if it was still 2009. It seriously felt like time-traveling back to when I thought I liked dystopias, and when they were everywhere. Also, I just don’t think this author is for me. I read another book from him a couple years ago and also didn’t care about it very much. This is a YA sci-fi/dystopia about a boy and his dog who live in a place where there […]

What if the only survivors of the apocalypse were…boring?

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

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Ish is the personification of that quote about “god grant me the confidence of a mediocre white guy,” except that he is even more assured of his specialness than usual, because he survived the plague that wiped out most of the rest of humanity. When he finally ventures out of his mountain cabin, civilization is dead and survivors are sparse. He adopts a dog and takes a road trip, looking for other people who are worthy of his company. Finding no one (California to New […]

“Sometimes, death is a blessing, even if we don’t realize it right away.”

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

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I was gifted Under the Whispering Door Winter Solstice, 2021.  Narfna described it as a ‘warm hug’ in her review and I wanted to save it for when such a book was needed.  Somehow almost a year has passed and it sat on the shelf.  When looking for my next read I swear I could hear the book say, “You should read me before you get more books for this year’s Winter Solstice book exchange”.  The book had a point so I picked it up and […]

A Point in Time Series Review

Naomi's Gift by Martha Hall Kelly

Ash Wednesday by Paula McLain

Landing by Olivia Hawker

We are Bone and Earth by Esi Edugyan

A Wild Rose by Fiona Davis

Alison's Conviction by Thomas Keneally

Mother Swamp by Jesmyn Ward

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Per usual, here are my reviews for each short story in the collection. Overall, this collection at times moved me and made me do more research on certain events brought up which is why my reading this week was slow (for me). Naomi’s Gift by Martha Hall Kelly (5 stars)-Phenomenal. You can figure out where Kelly is taking you, but I honestly was shocked at the the whole Holocaust camp for women/mothers/children. I keep thinking that there is nothing that could shock me at that […]



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