From the blurb: From New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente comes a brilliant reinvention of one of the best known fairy tales of all time. In the novella Six-Gun Snow White, Valente transports the title’s heroine to a masterfully evoked Old West where Coyote is just as likely to be found as the seven dwarves. A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the story of her parents – a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful […]
A Sad, Disappointing End
The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home is the conclusion to Catherynne Valente’s Fairland series for middle grade readers. The first book was a revelation, and is the book that introduced me to Valente. I adored that book, loved it. I enjoyed the second and third books as well, though I don’t think they ever managed to really re-capture the magic in the first book. However the fourth book, The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, was a huge disappointment. Still, even given that I’d been […]
Great little book, Stupid name
I love Catherynne Valente’s prose. She is just plain brilliant. But I can’t for the life of me figure out why they decided to call this book “Six-Gun Snow White” when hundreds of other, non-cheesier titles were available. Written in cornpone dialogue in 3rd person, this book reads like someone transcribed a story by Gabby Hayes. All the things you might be looking for in a western reboot of the Snow White Myth are slightly here. Very well done and entertaining. Ending is kind of […]
Zelda Fitzgerald is a Dancing Princess
My very first Cannonball review. Here’s hoping I can read and review the full Cannonball. Reading them won’t be a problem, it’s the reviewing. For my first book I’m presenting Speak Easy by Catherynne Valente. Zelda Fair lives in hotel Artemisia, and it’s the hotel of your 1920’s dreams. There are parties on every floor and Zelda is the toast of all of them. Frankie, a poor bellhop, is besotted with her. And Al, the underground ruler of it all, steals her away. Catherynne Valente […]
Some new characters: one real and some fictional
“There isn’t really a choice, is there?” he whispered. “Adventure cheats. It’s so much shinier and louder than Not-Adventure.” – Hawthorne the Troll Hi Cannonballers! I’d like to introduce you to my newest adventure and our newest Cannonballer, almost 3 months old and already very opinionated about reading material. As you can see, this month’s recommendation is BABY ANIMALS. I’m behind behind behind on both reading and posting. See above re: baby Cannonballer. Probably won’t reach the full Cannonball, but let’s try anyway! The Boy Who Lost […]
Growing Up is a Treacherous Endeavor
“A heart can learn ever so many tricks, and what sort of beast it becomes depends greatly upon whether it it has been taught to sit up or lie down, to speak or to beg, to roll over or to sound alarms, to guard or to attack, to find or to stay. But the trick most folks are so awfully fond of learning, the absolute second they’ve got hold of a heart, is to pretend they don’t have one at all. It is the very […]