CBR13 – Page 15 – Cannonball Read 17

Octavia Butler Predicted MAGA

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

September 21, 2021 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr13bingo Reader’s Choice (sub for New Series), bingo #12 Book two of Octavia Butler’s Earthseed Series delivers an astounding gut punch follow-up to Parable of the Sower. Her imagining of what would happen in America’s future is frighteningly accurate. Set in the 2030s and beyond, Parable of the Talents takes us back to Northern California and the Earthseed community known as Acorn. Lauren Oya Olamina and her followers have escaped the upheaval and violence of Southern California and built a commune based on the principles […]

An extraordinary life, ordinarily told

Confessions of an Art Addict by Peggy Guggenheim

September 20, 2021 by Rooooomie Leave a Comment

Bingo: book club Though the Guggenheim name is well-known, I had never heard of Peggy Guggenheim, but when it came up as my work book club’s next pick, I was intrigued. An heiress to (today’s equivalent of) millions of dollars, she had a cushy childhood before deciding to devote herself to supporting and collecting art. She lived in England, France, Italy and America, and visited many more places in her never-ending quest to expand her art collections. This memoir is a very entertaining read, as […]

I almost gave up on my white whale 100 times…

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

September 20, 2021 by Rooooomie 2 Comments

Bingo: white whale (plus another bingo: ring) CW: racism, misogyny, castration, cruelty I think there is a good reason that ‘classic’ literature, the kind we’re taught in school, is made up of a lot of white whales. When a book is held up as an example, as a work that has near-universal things to teach us, it takes away some of the enjoyment, as it adds an element of work. We’re not supposed to simply enjoy it, we’re supposed to take something away from it. […]

Gateway to Science Fiction and Octavia Butler

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

September 19, 2021 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr13bingo Gateway, Bingo #9-11 (horizontal, vertical and inner square) Parable of the Sower (1993) is an astoundingly prescient work of science fiction. Octavia Butler (1947-2006), winner of Nebula, Hugo and MacArthur prizes, tells the story of hyperempath Lauren Olamina in mid-2020s California. I reviewed this novel for the 2015 Cannonball Read, and I do believe that it (or really any written by Butler) would be a Gateway to reading more sci-fi/fantasy, and I hope a Gateway to reading more by Butler. Butler writes powerfully and […]

Like the circles that you find in the windmill of your mind

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

September 17, 2021 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr13bingo Rec’d, Bingo #8 Susanna Clarke’s novel Piranesi has been reviewed about a dozen times on the Cannonball Read, first by tiny_bookbot and most recently by Debcapsfan. Every review of this book has been 4 or 5 stars. Published in 2020, Piranesi was nominated for the Nebula Best Novel and won the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction. It is an astonishing fantasy novel about the world of the mind and the myth of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth. I must say that while I thought […]

Unearthing History

In the Memory of the Forest: A Novel by Charles T. Powers

September 15, 2021 by ElCicco 4 Comments

Cbr13bingo Landscape, bingo #6 and #7; Cannonball! In the Memory of the Forest was published in 1997, shortly after author Charles T. Powers died. This was his one and only novel, having spent his career as a journalist covering Eastern Europe for the LA Times. I remember reading this novel after it came out and thinking it was amazing, but it has been almost 25 years. Does the novel stand up? Yes, it does. In the Memory of the Forest is a story about Poland’s […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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