Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Parable of the Sower-Graphic Novel

Parable of the Sower by Damien Duffy

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Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review. So the thing is this is my least favorite of Butler’s works. The story had a lot of plot holes that the graphic novel of course cannot and does not fix. Taking place in 2025, we follow the character of Lauren Olamina and her family that are living in what remains of areas around Los Angeles. Told in the first person, we get Lauren’s “insights” into her family, […]

Started Off Promising…Descended into Chaotic Reading

Vox by Christina Dalcher

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Damn it! My boss (number 2 at my agency) recommended this book to me. She was so excited when Amazon dropped it to $1.99 on Monday and ran over and told me so I could get it. I am so going to lie about enjoying this book because I am not dumb enough to tell her how I really feel about it. But I can tell you all. This book started off so strong and then just spiraled into mess. It didn’t help that I […]

(bad “Electric Feel” joke)

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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The Power is horrifying in a lot of ways, one of which is how parts of it are also rather cathartic, which it shouldn’t be on the whole. If that opening sentence sounded a little confused and contradictory, that’s because it reflects my feelings about the thing. On the one hand, it’s about women getting to win, but on the other hand, the violence and abuses of power by men and women make it hard to feel good about anything, because it comes off as […]

Dark secrets

The Giver: Graphic Novel by Lois Lowry

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#cbr11bingo #Award I have never read the novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry, but thought I knew the story. I had read the second book, Gathering Blue and read about and talked about The Giver. Plus, I figured I know the authors style as well. It is sweet and “happy edgy.” You know good things can happen, even when bad things are going on. Yet, when I read The Giver: Graphic Novel I was blown away. This is not just due to the story (I […]

California here we come; right back where we started from

California by Edan Lepucki

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Some dystopia novels are trying to be literature, some are trying to be good trashy fun, some are trying to be profound and fail terribly, some are just way off the mark. Then there’s the category I’d put California in, which is the kind of book that doesn’t really seem sure of what it’s doing, and thus never really makes a mark on the genre or the reader. Meet Cal and Frida! They’re a typical 20-something couple in the 2050s just trying to make it […]

Familiar and Strange

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Messenger by Lois Lowry

Son by Lois Lowry

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I was 11 when The Giver was published, and I remember my 7th grade English teacher, the next year, reading it aloud to my class. It was my first exposure to dystopian fiction and I ate it up. Everyone in my class had their own copy so we could follow along, and within a few years my copy was completely dog-eared and tattered, as I read and reread. At some point, having moved on to more sophisticated dystopias as I got older, it ended up […]



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