Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

what happens to the torch-bearers, the candle holders, the vigil keepers?

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

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There is so much that I want to tell you about this book, but I won’t. I took so many notes, and placed so many scraps of paper between pages, but I do not want to ruin a single realization for you. Rebecca Makkai has crafted an intricately woven tapestry that you have to witness in its full glory; I do not want to give you a magnifying glass before you have had a chance to first witness the enormity of the project. The Great Believers hits […]

cbr12bingo – Green (and another Bingo!)

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

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I wanted so much more from this little dusty sketch of the dystopian west. It had a helluva hook – outlaw lesbians! Gun-slinging sisters-in-resistance! Non-binary action heroes! Unfortunately, it ground to a halt far short of its potential destination. It begins as all westerns do: someone hanging taut at the end of a rope. There are western tropes a-plenty; rough-riding, chaw-spitting, howdy pardnering, thankya kindly ma’ams litter the landscape. This wild west is wild for a different reason, though: we’re in a thinly plotted dystopia. […]

cbr12bingo – Pandemic!

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

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Once again, Becky Chambers distills the hope of humanity into the fleeting thoughts of a far-off astronaut. I am, once again, bathed in love and awe. I’m an observer, not a conqueror. I have no interest in changing other worlds to suit me. I choose the lighter touch: changing myself to suit them. Ariadne is more than our narrator, and she’s more than the pilot of her ship. She is our eyes, ears, and heart. She is an equal yet extraordinary piece of her four-person crew. This […]

cbr12bingo – Shelfie!

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

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What a treat, to have had this Wayfairers series at my fingertips (thank you again, CannonBookClub)! Now, what a drag to have to wait another year for another entry! Oh well, that’s what I get for loving things. Once again we’ve been thrown back into the same universe, but with a new (and hinted at) cast of characters: the sister of a main from the first entry, a teen desperate to escape, a person who cares for the dead, an intellectual explorer, a new kid in town, […]

“Any questions? Comments? Last-minute genius ideas? Prayers, hymns, interpretive dances?”

The Disasters by M.K. England

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My reading intake has dropped off considerably since May, but book club kept me with my hand in the game so to speak, because I really enjoyed my first choice, The Disasters by M.K. England. This book ended up on our selection list because I saw an interesting write-up about it and thought hey, I want to read that book. Sometimes it pays to be the Book Club Maven. (I also read I Hope You Get This Message , I had previously read The Long […]

“The planet was beautiful. The planet was horrible. The planet was full of people, and they were beautiful and horrible, too.”

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

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A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, grabbed my attention and did not let go. It was immersive, inclusive, and filled with all sorts of sentient beings with whom I was delighted to spend my time. It was not a book that I would have picked up on my own, but now I find myself barreling head-first further into the series. I was so excited to learn that it was a series; reading is the only way that I comfortably spend any “down time” […]



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