Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Art of the Meal

Babette’s Feast by Isak Dinesen

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Babette’s Feast is only 45 pages long (does that make it a novella or a short story?), and while you can easily finish it in one sitting, it is the kind of story that makes one go back and re-read and ponder the message Dinesen is imparting. I remember when this story was made into an award-winning film back in the 1980s, many religious communities identified with its communal/eucharistic imagery. While that is undeniably there, what strikes me reading it today is its message about […]

Doctor Ain was recognized on the Omaha-Chicago flight.

Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr

Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen

Orange World by Karen Russell

The Fall by Albert Camus

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield

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CBR12Bingo – Gateway (Author) Her Smoke Rose Up Forever: 4/5 Stars This is one of those books that I spent multiple years trying to get myself through. I read one of the stories “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” awhile ago and really liked it. It’s almost like a play on a kind of Twlight Zone type stories with a big twist, but it’s longer and more nuanced and more realized than one of those stories. Instead, it feels like a heavy influence on someone like […]

I have been with you every day of my life. You know, do you not, that is has been so?

Babette's Feast and Sorrow-Acre by Isak Dinesen

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Two stories about faith and devotion of different kinds. These were packed together in a short audiobook that I had access to (and you might also, actually) via my libary’s subscription to Hoopla. The first of the stories is “Babette’s Feast”, certainly the more famous of the two and probably the most famous piece of fiction that Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) wrote and published. It was made into a movie some time ago too. In the story, Babette is a French refugee in World War […]

Another Dinesen strike-out

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Apparently, my great love for “Babette’s Feast” fooled me into thinking I would love every single thing that Karen Blixen (pseudonymously known as Isak Dinesen) wrote. If you read my review of Out of Africa, you’ll know that’s not the case. And it’s certainly doubly true here. Three of the four essays in here were largely unmemorable, but there was a rather arresting one that stood out. Full review here.

No sparks of joy flying here.

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Ever since I’ve begun Marie Kondo-ing my bookshelves, I have discovered plunder that I never knew was there. I have also discovered headscratchers that made me angry I moved them from my parents’ house to my MA program, to my first house with The Chancellor, to our current apartment. All throughout my reading of Out of Africa, I could not help thinking, “I moved this book? TWICE??” [possibly more, dear reader, but I refuse to think about it] My full review is rather baffled and […]

Out of Denmark

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My final review for 2014 is a collection of short stories by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), perhaps best known for Out of Africa and Babette’s Feast. This collection is my first exposure to Dinesen’s work; the title and time of year made it seem appropriate. I have read a few re-imagined fairy tales this year, but Winter’s Tales does not fit the fairy tale model. In fact, after reading the first few stories, I wasn’t sure what to make of them at all and considered […]



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