Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

B is for Ballad

The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings

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Bingo 1: “B” square I was in New Orleans in January for a work conference; the only time I went into the French Quarter was to visit a bookstore. On the local interest shelf there was one title I vaguely recognized: The Ballad of Perilous Graves. This was for the first half a generally interesting musical and magical realism kind of mystery in which local kids notice something is wrong with the spirit of the city of Nola and must then save everyone and everything […]

“Four legs good, two legs bad”

Animal Farm by George Orwell

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Nowhere Books Bingo 25: Banned Book Buzzword Cover Challenge 25: Cover featuring an animal On Manor Farm, somewhere in England, an old boar gathers all the animals in the barn and makes a powerful speech about how animals suffer at the hands of humans and should rise up and take power for themselves. Shortly after his death, the animals of Manor Farm do just that – they violently fight back when Farmer Jones and his farmhands try to control them and chase the farmer, his […]

“Comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love.”

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

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My initial reaction upon finishing Comfort Me With Apples was “wtf was this.” I’m not sure what I was going to rate it or say about it before my book club meeting, but something one of the other members said during the meeting sort of flipped a little switch in my brain and clarified my feelings and thoughts about it. This was a weird effing book. Especially if you go in thinking you know what the main premise is, but you really don’t as it turns out, […]

Pilgrim’s Progress, Or Why It’s Important to Follow Directions

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

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The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan My rating: 3 of 5 stars Growing up in a Christian faith-community, I had heard off and on of “Pilgrim’s Progress”. No one I knew had actually read it, but the gist of the story was passed around. I’ve been trying to revamp my British literature course and my Enlightenment/Interregnum period needs some work. This book happens to fall into that period and since I teach at a Christian private school I figured it might be a good fit. […]

The End Justifies the Means

Radicalized by Cory Doctorow

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Radicalized by Cory Doctorow is four short stories turned into a novel. I checked this out from the library. The cover grabbed me, it is black and white with four red and black images, a piece of toast with a no sign marked through it, a person in a heroic pose with a cape trailing behind them, a pill with a hand reaching up through it, and a red skull on a black background. I enjoyed “Unauthorized Bread” about digital rights management. The heroine is […]

Don’t be a dictator

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“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Animal farm is one of those classics that are pretty much absorbed and ingrained in society. It tells the story of some animals on a farm becoming deeply enraged about the unfairness as they do all the work and the farmer reaps the reward. They stage a revolution and rename the farm “Animal farm.” They adopt the Seven Commandments of Animalism, the most important of which is, “All animals are equal.” And for […]



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