Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Four legs good, two legs bad”

Animal Farm by George Orwell

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Nowhere Books Bingo 25: Banned Book Buzzword Cover Challenge 25: Cover featuring an animal On Manor Farm, somewhere in England, an old boar gathers all the animals in the barn and makes a powerful speech about how animals suffer at the hands of humans and should rise up and take power for themselves. Shortly after his death, the animals of Manor Farm do just that – they violently fight back when Farmer Jones and his farmhands try to control them and chase the farmer, his […]

It is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it.

A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers

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I had heard so many good things about this book that I decided to put a hold on it at my library back at the beginning of Bingo 2022. Like the characters in the novel, this book must have been on a journey, because I never heard from my library, and after Bingo, I forgot about it. In February 2023, a voice mail saying my hold book was ready for pick up left me slightly perplexed. Upon retrieving it, I found A Psalm for the […]

a traditional fairy tale: nasty and unfair

Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir

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A princess, a tower, a witch, a fairy- you know this story, right? If you are well-versed in the nasty beginnings of most beloved fairy tales, then probably yes. If you are familiar with the delightfully cracked work of Tamsyn Muir then also, yes. If you are coming in seeing a blonde princess in a tower and thinking Disney, then absolutely not! Princess Floralinda is your traditional princess: beautiful, naïve, and imprisoned in a tower. She was put up there by a witch; and while […]

Some light can only be seen in the dark

Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o and Vashti Harrison

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Sulwe is the colour of midnight. Her mama is the colour of dawn, her father the colour of dusk and her little sister is the colour of high noon. Sulwe has darker skin than anyone in her family and pretty much everyone at school. While her little sister is given positive nicknames like ‘ray’ and ‘sunshine’, Sulwe is called ‘darkie’ and ‘night’. This is obviously deeply hurtful to the little girl, who remains withdrawn and friendless. Sulwe tries a number of things to lighten her […]

“It is visceral, it is personal, it is gleeful, and it is triumphant”

Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel M. Lavery

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While explaining to a group of medievalists his feelings on reading pieces that are older than a hundred years old, Daniel states ‘ I feel a profound sense of triumph and superiority over the author’ I said, ‘because they are foolish enough to be dead, while I am young and gloriously alive. Not because I think their ideas are outdated or anything like that. It has nothing to do with how they think, or how we see the world differently. It is visceral, it is […]

I’m as bad as the fool: filling up greedily, wanting more, loving it but not feeling satisfied

Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord

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It’s been difficult for me to write about Redemption in Indigo. Karen Lord’s novel feels familiar and good in so many ways. It reminds me of the kinds of fairy tales and fables we’re told as children of normal but brave lives interrupted by magic, gods or other mystical beings hidden in sight, and important lessons drawn from their exchanges. But this familiarity, which is partially drawn from the brevity of the tale, was also a draw back for me. I wanted even more from […]



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