Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Becky Chambers does it again (just…could she do it for longer???)

A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers

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Machinery: because, duh, robots, but could also be They She He since Dex is nonbinary (a fact never really commented on!) Man oh man does Chambers have a style: she’s going to sneakily set up a world, and then just WALLOP you with utterly charming characters whom you cannot help but get invested in. The worst part of this book? That it’s so short–more of a long-ish novella than a real, fulsome standalone book. I don’t know if this is the first in a series […]

“This did not mean that laws and rules were not helpful, or that explanations should not be sought, but rather that there should be no fear in changing them as needed, for nothing in the universe held still.”

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Wayfarers, #4) by Becky Chambers

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I’m sad this series is over, but I’m glad it exists, and this was a really good one to go out on. Like the other books in the series, there isn’t really a plot. The story is very character focused, and acts as a sort of slice-of-life. I say sort of, because the circumstances here are slightly out of the ordinary. The whole book takes place over five or so days on the planet Gora, essentially an interstellar truck stop because it intersects with so […]

The Five-Hop One-Stop at the End of the Universe

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

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Well, not exactly the end of the universe, but definitely the Restaurant at the End of the Wayfarers Series! While we’re speaking of restaurants, allow me to share with you one of the best (outside of Redwall, of course) feast descriptions that I have ever come across: “grilled quickbread, a hurriedly made batch of whitefish salad, tiny wraps of grain paper stuffed with nut butter and edible flowers, and the last of his smoked eel and crackers.” So very tempting- and I can barely tolerate […]

A small part of the immense universe

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

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[Read as an audiobook from the public library] “I send greetings on behalf of the people of our planet. We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of the immense universe that surrounds us and it is with humility and hope that we take this step.” — Secretary-General […]

A tribute to the fitting end to a wonderful book series

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

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It’s with a bittersweet heart that I possibly inadvisably chose to finish reading this book, thus pushing out my overall bedtime much into “…now, really” hours. I both didn’t want it to end (there were supposed to be two hours left, and then I blinked and suddenly there was only 27 minutes left??) and very much wanted to see it end (see: “bedtime, inadvisable” above). The very first book in this series, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, is the very first book that […]

“From the beginning we have wandered. To this day, we wander still, but for all our travels we are not lost . We fly with courage and will undying.”

Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) by Becky Chambers

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It has been quite a while since I’ve had a truly lovely reading experience. I should have known that Becky Chambers would deliver the goods. When I read To Be Taught, if Fortunate in September of 2019 (godtopus I missed regular library service in 2020 and am glad to have it back) I was simply astounded at what it accomplished, and it was from that time my favorite of Chambers’ works, with A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet a very close second (I […]



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