Once again, I find myself having to catch up with the rest of the universe, finally picking up Station Eleven (2014) by Emily St. John Mandel after its been reviewed, discussed and bookclubed by the Cannonball crew more times than I can remember. I guess it’s not surprising that I first heard of Station Eleven on Cannonball. And despite some doubts and disinterest when I initially heard it was a dystopian story about a traveling Shakespeare Company, which sounded weird, it was the positive Cannonball reviews that convinced […]
I’m Not As Far Behind As Usual
Usually I’m at least a year behind on these things (I read the Hunger Games trilogy maybe two months before the movies came out; I read Gone Girl about six months prior). When I saw this in a book shop while on vacation I mentioned to my husband that I thought it had been reviewed a bunch this year, and was the subject of a book club, but that I knew nothing about it. I feel lucky to have come into it without any realy […]
It’s a bittersweet Symphony
I came across this book due to all the metaphorical trumpets heralding it via Pajiba, and dove in, excited to see what all the hubbub was about. As a big fan of post-apocalyptic literature I am both the target audience, and a cautious critic, and I think this book is absolute perfection. When a virus wipes out 99.9 percent of the world’s population, the survivors must carve out an existence for themselves, and live with the echoes of those who were lost. Station Eleven follows the lives of […]
Book Club Discussion Post: Station Eleven
Welcome to the Cannonball Read Book Club discussion of Station Eleven! I’m so excited that so many of you have decided to take on Station Eleven in time to have a discussion about the book. Let’s start with a few ground rules: Since we’re anticipating lots of conversation, please try your best to reply directly to each other, that way they are alerted and can keep discussing! Discussion is the important word. Let’s have a conversation (or as close a facsimile as we can in […]
Where’s the Queue Forming for the ‘Survival is Insufficient’ Tattoo?
Getting this in just under the wire for tomorrow. Hopefully I have some time tomorrow to jump into the discussion. Or lurk. I’m good at lurking. I’m sure by now, most know the basic premise of this book – deadly flu wipes out a lot of the population and years later, humanity is still trying to survive. As far as dead horses and the beating there of, it’s a genre that’s been heavily explored, especially if you count zombie apocalypses into the equation. But for […]
And another one…
Arthur Leander, ageing movie-star, dies of a heart attack on stage at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto. On stage is eight-year-old Kristen Raymonde, witnessing the death of a man who had been nothing but kind to her. Jeevan Chaudhary, former paparazzo photographer and entertainment journalist, now an EMT in training, jumps up on stage tries to save Arthur’s life with CPR. Later that evening, travelling home in the snow, he receives a phone call from a friend, working in the ER. There is a flu […]