Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Question of Logistics

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

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Bingo: “N” **SPOILERS, Don’t proceed if you don’t want to learn the “twist.”         Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go is an odd book. It tells the story of Kathy, the protagonist, and her two friends, Ruth and Tommy, whom she lives with in a residential school called Hailsham. Hailsham is a place for students like them to grow up, be educated, and put their hearts into artwork, poetry, and other activities. These students are not your typical learners, however. They are […]

Ishiguro, I think I WILL let you go…

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

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My wife’s father loves to say of the movie, “it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.” I too didn’t care for the movie when I watched it all those years ago, having watched it for that hook (humans cloned for their organs) and gotten little to satisfy my desire for said hook. My wife has persisted, throughout the years we’ve been together, though, that the book is better. So, with audiobooks included with Spotify Premium, I started listening through Never Let Me Go, and boy was […]

Connecting stories and people through music

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro

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CBR15 BINGO: On the Air, because these are all stories about music BINGO: Sex, On the Air, Nostalgia, Picture This, Europe Music has always been a complete mystery to me. I was born with zero musical talent, and the idea of creating a new tune out of nothing is so incomprehensible to me, it’s nothing short of magic. I’ll never be someone who can analyze music or discuss musical theory, yet I often find myself in awe when a song or a chord evokes ecstasy, […]

“it is possible to develop an intimacy with the most disturbing of things”

A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

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Oops, it’s been a hot minute since I wrote a review. I have been reading, but I also spent four months trying to do my job and also angst about whether I would still have that job in the fall, which ate up a lot of my focus. (I do! I got tenure!) Then I went traveling and continued not writing reviews, though also still reading quite a bit. But CBR Bingo is a nice little prod to get back to it, in the back half of […]

What Happens When the Past is Forgotten

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

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The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro My rating: 4 of 5 stars I chose this for the CBR15 Passport Challenge in the “Travel Your Bookshelf” category. The first time I read Buried Giant, it was going to be a 3 star rating the ending saved it for me. That moment on the shore with Axl and Beatrice gets me in the feels. It’s such sharp, intense writing that leaves a strong impression on a reader. That deserves recognition. Originally, I thought the plot didn’t have much […]

You Have To Keep Breaking Your Heart Until It Opens

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

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It must be nice sometimes to have no feelings. I envy you.’ I considered this, then said: ‘I believe I have many feelings. The more I observe, the more feelings become available to me.’ She laughed unexpectedly, making me start. ‘In that case,’ she said, ‘maybe you shouldn’t be so keen to observe. – Kazuo Ishiguro This book was recommended to me by a fellow SciFi aficionado. I had heard of it in passing but, as I have never read any of Ishiguro’s other works, […]



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