Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Murderbot Diaries – the novellas and the short stories. Some were re-reads, some were new to me

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol by Matha Wells

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

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My original reviews and ratings for the first four novellas can be found here. CBR17 Bingo: Favourite (goes for the whole series, and the protagonist) All Systems Red Nowhere Book Bingo 25: First in a series   It’s been five years since I first read The Murderbot Diaries, and it was interesting to revisit the original novella. This was selected as the January selection for my real-life book club (with the option to read the other three if people had time). While a lot of the members really enjoyed […]

Sometimes a beautiful cover and a simple story are enough

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

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CBR 17 BINGO: Purple (see cover) Illustrated by Victoria Sawdon It’s been five years since the publication of Piranesi, and 21 years (!) since the release of the spellbinding Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, so I know I’m not the only fan who squealed with delight at the arrival of a new (tiny) book by Susanna Clarke. I love the existence of this book, but I must warn you up front that it’s a short story, and barely that. You can read it in 20 […]

Crying in H Mart

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

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This memoir had been on my radar for some time, but I just wasn’t sure if I had the emotional wherewithal to read a book about losing your mother to cancer. I had been thinking about it ever since I watched Michelle Zauner’s band, Japanese Breakfast, play on Saturday Night Live (sidebar: I looked it up to see when that performance occurred, and it was in 2022. WHAT EVEN  IS TIME). However, when I had to do a very quick book shop to get something […]

Do you follow the Beast or your better angels?

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

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Cbr17bingo N Every time I read a Pratchett novel, I am just awestruck, dumbfounded by the way he could write so eloquently and with such warmth and humor about some of the nastiest parts of the human condition. Night Watch, originally published in 2002, really hit me hard because it is just so weirdly timely. I read and reviewed Guards! Guards! (the first of the Watch novels) last year, and I know that there are several other books in the Watch series before Night Watch. […]

My first encounter with the source material

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

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Cbr17bingo Green I never read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a kid. Like many, my acquaintance with the story was from the 1939 film, which I always enjoyed watching even though the flying monkeys and Wicked Witch scared me. Later, in high school or college, I remember hearing that the original story was an allegory about turn-of-the-century American populism and the argument over whether or not the gold standard should be abandoned. You can read a bit about that theory here. Whether or not […]

The final case for Susan Ryeland?

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz

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CBR 17 BINGO: Red (see cover) Anthony Horowitz is back with what is most likely the last Susan Ryeland/Atticus Pünd mystery. I’m sad to see the series wind down, but how many times can a person get involved with the same franchise to disastrous results without breaking the audience’s suspension of disbelief? (This isn’t Jurassic Park for heaven’s sake.) If you’re a fan of Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders, you might be wondering how Horowitz could squeeze another novel out of this premise, what with […]



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