Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I have been a character and I have been a narrator, but now I don’t know what I am.

Or What You Will by Jo Walton

by Leave a Comment

CBR15 PASSPORT (Stamp #13: Different Genres, Metafiction) CB515BINGO: (Europe square. Takes place in Florence, Italy. The city is very much a character in the book.) This is the right book for the right person but I am not that right person. Trying to summarize the plot here is going to be problematic because there are a lot of threads weaving this story. Here goes. A woman, Sylvia, is living in Florence, Italy as she nears the end of her battle with cancer. Sylvia is a successful author […]

Perhaps every generation passes to the next…an untouched trunk of virtues. The adults describe the trunk’s contents to the young and never open it.

The Maytrees by Annie Dillard

by Leave a Comment

CBR15 BINGO: (Bodies, Bodies Bodies square. Deals with the process of aging and death) Annie Dillard’s writing is gorgeous, layered and poetic. I read The Living years and years ago and still, when asked what my favorite books of all time are, it is on the top of that list. I can only remember basic points about the plot but I remember, very vividly, how reading that book made me feel. This is Dillard’s only other work of fiction and, while set in a different […]

CBR15 Bingo: On the Air

Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin

by Leave a Comment

CBR15 Bingo: On the Air Official book description: Sales are slow at Three Sisters Biryani Poutine, the only halal restaurant in the close-knit Golden Crescent neighborhood. Hana waitresses there part time, but what she really wants is to tell stories on the radio. If she can just outshine her fellow intern at the city radio station, she may have a chance at landing a job. In the meantime, Hana pours her thoughts and dreams into a podcast, where she forms a lively relationship with one […]

Body Shifting, Acceptance, and Change to Save a Friend

The Ancient Magus' Bride vol. 17 by Kore Yamazaki

by Leave a Comment

Bingo 7: Bodies, Bodies In The Ancient Magus’ Bride (volume 17), there are quite a few bodies, many of them unusual, unique, and/or not original for their inhabitants. Given that many of the bodies belong to teenagers (roughly high school age), it’s sort of fitting there’s going to be a lot of change and confusion. First, Chise (MC’s) classmates: Philomela has been infected by a nasty powerful ancient magic book and transformed into some kind of briar demon thing, but Chise still sees her classmate […]

Slime-y Politics

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime vol 21 (manga) by Fuse, Taiki Kawakami

by Leave a Comment

Bingo 6: Politics In the world today, I don’t want to have to deal with real-life politics, so I won’t. I’m going to have a look at a manga volume that emphasizes the treachery of fantasy politics. The general premise of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime was initially an almost middle age ordinary guy being reincarnated in a fantasy world as the titular slime (weakest of beings). It quickly transitions to the slime (who takes the name Rimuru) becoming a leader of […]

CBR15 Bingo: Asia/Oceania

The Dragon and the Pearl by Jeannie Lin

by Leave a Comment

CBR15 Bingo: Asia/Oceania (set in 8th Century China) 15-word review: Chinese warlord and infamous courtesan to the former Emperor rusticate among the bamboo. Love blossoms. Ling Suyin used to be one of the now-deceased Emperor’s favourite consorts. Known for her beauty, grace, and arts of seduction, she now lives far away from the court, quite happy with her retirement. As a former concubine to the Emperor, Ling Suyin is supposed to remain loyal to him to her dying day, something that makes her feel rather […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo