Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

And so the mythos of Gaiman’s Sandman begins – CBR14 Bingo: Adapt

The Sandman, volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg (illustrator), Sam Keith (illustrator), Malcolm Jones III (illustrator), Robbie Busch (colorer), Todd Klein (letterer)

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CBR14 Bingo: “Adapt” – The Sandman has recently been adapted into a television series. I discovered The Sandman graphic novels in 2000 and instantly became a fan (with collectibles to show for it!).  I’m a sucker for beautiful book editions and when the “Absolute Sandman” editions were released I couldn’t resist.  What makes them ‘Absolute’?  To quote  the Amazon blurb, “The Absolute Sandman Vol. 1 collects issues #1-20 of The Sandman and features completely new coloring, approved by the author on the first 18 issues, as well […]

Some

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Rizzio by Denise Mina

This way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski

Being There by Jerzy Kosinski

Hits and Misses by Simon Rich

Proto Zoa by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Last Days of August by Jon Ronson

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: Or, How Capitalism Works - and How It Fails by Yanis Varoufakis

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CBR14Bingo – Shadow – In the novel, even though it’s ostensibly about the “Buffalo Bill” killings, Hannibal Lecter is always there and always present in mind. – Silence of the Lambs – 3/5 Stars This is a book that for some godforsaken reason my seventh grade English teacher not only let me read for a class assignment but also let me make a stick-figure puppet theater for key scenes. The early 1990s were the Wild Wild West truly. It’s an interesting book that is mostly […]

“You ever see somebody ruin their own life?/ His poor wife.”

The Scandalous Hamiltons: A Gilded Age Grifter, a Founding Father's Disgraced Descendant, and a Trial at the Dawn of Tabloid Journalism by Bill Shaffer

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CBR 14 Bingo: Scandal The yellow papers screamed scandalous headlines in this case of stabbings, baby trafficking, and mysterious deaths. When Ray Hamilton’s wife is arrested for stabbing the family’s wet nurse, a great deal of scandalous truth comes out – namely, that the child is not his, nor hers. I have not seen that seminal musical Hamilton, but I had read the doorstopper of a book it was based on. While I knew all about the successes and scandals of Alexander Hamilton’s life, I had […]

Poetry Books

How to Read a Poem by Terry Eagleton

Lords of Limit by Geoffrey Hill

The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide by Robert Pinsky

The Trouble with Poetry by Billy Collins

Selected Poems of WB Yeats by WB Yeats

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

New Hampshire by Robert Frost

Emily Dickinson by Poems and Letters

Gilgamesh by Ed. Stephen Mitchell

Leaves of Grass 1855 by Walt Whitman

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CBR14Bingo – Mind – This book addresses the “heart” elements of poetry with a literary critical mind approach. How to Read a Poem – 5/5 Stars This is a book that I really enjoyed but even Terry Eagleton admits that it’s not much help to anyone who hasn’t read a decent amount of literary criticism, especially for the first half of the book. It’s rare for an author to suggest that maybe for some readers, starting at chapter 5 (out of 7) would yield the […]

Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

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CBR14Bingo – Monster – It’s a about a monster. And while yes, Victor Frankenstein is a monster, the Monster is most definitely a monster.   The thing that always strikes me about Frankenstein, and I think this is probably my fifth or so time reading it is the narrative structure. It’s told entirely through the perspective and letters of Robert Walton, an adventurer at sea, after he sees the Monster on the ice, and then finds and befriend Victor, who is pursuing the monster. These […]

A Passage to India

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

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CBR14Bingo – Hot – I am calling this hot because of all the times the English characters complain about the heat. “Hot” being entirely relative of course, and the main thrust of the book about the English failure to recognize the interiority of the Indian characters. In addition, the heat plays an important role in the novel throughout leading to specific events that tell us about the different characters, but also acts as a kind of metaphor of how the British Raj specifically tried to […]



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