Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Lost World without the racism.

Outland by Dennis E. Taylor

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Read for CBR Bingo: History/schmistory So, I love science fiction. That’s news to me. When I self-conceptualize, I love fantasy. I grew up on Tolkien and George RR Martin and Robert Jordan. When I was younger and still aspired to be famous and noteworthy, I thought I would be a fantasy novelist. But looking back through the books I’ve read for Cannonball Read, 32% of my reviews have been of science fiction novels (compared to 21% fantasy and 19% history). Anyway. I read Dennis E. […]

A loner, wisecracking friend, an adoring teen and a cagey young heir walk into a billionaires’ treasure hunt

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia

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#cbr11bingo #SummerRead Summer time and the livin’ is easy, so you need a fun, easy, vacation read. And Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia fits that bill. (And fits my #cbr11bingo #summerread requirement). Like several of my reads this year, this book has a “How I found it” story. Picture it, lunch June 2019. A woman is sitting at a table. Crap all over it (nobody cleans up after themselves) but there, in the middle of it all was a book with a […]

Toto, I don’t think we’re in our universe anymore.

RASL: The Drift by Jeff Smith

RASL: Romance at the Speed of Light by Jeff Smith

RASL: The Fire of St. George by Jeff Smith

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#cbr11bingo #awardwinner Long story here: I was looking at the return cart (next to my desk) on Wednesday as I needed to stop looking at the computer screen and thought I would see (sadly) what we were sending back to publishers. I found a funky (not necessarily good funky) cover: A frog-faced creature starred at me. Oh, heck, does not hurt to look, eh? And saw that it was a three-book series and a graphic novel. I could get my illustrated book or series first. […]

Uh, weren’t we having a mutiny? (redux)

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

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The Collapsing Empire (4 stars) CBR11 Bingo: And so it begins. I read (and reviewed) this back in 2017, but had forgotten it when I tried reading its follow-up back at the end of last year. So, I put off reading book 2 until I could go back and re-read this. And here we are. These books take place far in humanity’s future. We’ve left earth and colonized parts of the galaxy using something called “the flow”, which is a system of highways or rivers […]

What is it to Live? What is it to Love? What is Freedom, in the End?

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

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CBR11 Bingo: Far and Away Although this novel could be used for a number of different bingo squares, I chose it for Far and Away, as it is far away from me in not just physical location, but also in time-period and culture. The Bird King takes place in 1491 Granada, at the end of reign of the last Sultan on the Iberian peninsula, as the Spanish Inquisition closes in on the once large, but now dwindling empire. The main focus is on the journeys […]

Finished a Great American Novel on Independence Day

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

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Read as part of CBR 11 Bingo: TBR Pile Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach is such a brilliant, beautiful book that I’m having difficulty conjuring up words to review it. It’s not leaving me breathless the way 2666 did, more so a state of stark admiration where I feel like words won’t do it justice. There are some writers who have a style that just works for the reader and I suppose Egan’s is one for me. Literature and general fiction are not really my bag so if you told […]



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