Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted.”

The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2) by Brandon Sanderson

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Well, I was hoping I would like this more this time, knowing how it ended, but it was about the same experience for me. A bit sloggy up until the last third of it, at which point it really picked up. I know what he was going for here, turning a tired fantasy premise on its head like he did with the first one*, but the nature of that premise and the world and characters he built for himself just made it not a very […]

A book I loved years ago is still great on re-read.

The Golem and the Jinni (The Golem and the Jinni, #1) by Helene Wecker

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This was just as good the second time. Not going to do a whole huge review because I’m tired, and I’d rather be reading the sequel instead of writing things. I still think this is an absolutely lovely portrayal of the immigrant experience, both in the way it portrays actual historical immigrant communities (particularly Little Syria and the Jewish communities in NYC) and in the way that Wecker uses the outsized fantastical experiences of the golem and the jinni (Chava and Ahmad, as they become […]

“My good Horse, you’ve lost nothing but your self-conceit.”

The Horse and His Boy (The Chronicles of Narnia, #3) by C.S. Lewis

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This was always my least favorite book in this series. So far at least, it remains that way, but I think for different reasons. I’m not quite sure why I never really warmed to it when I was a kid. I’d like to think that my subconscious was responding to what my conscious mind is cringing at now, but I also think that a large part of it might be that this isn’t really a portal fantasy, like the rest of the books are (The […]

“I’m going up to my room now, where I may die.”

Howl's Moving Castle (Howl's Moving Castle, #1) by Diana Wynne Jones

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**30 Books in 30 Days** Book 17/30 Most of the way through this, I couldn’t figure out why I had only rated it four stars on my first read (which was quite a while ago, in high school I think?). I was all, This is delightful! I love this! I’ve only ever had fond memories of it. And then I came to the ending, and I was like, Oh yeah, this is why. And then I also remembered Diana Wynne Jones book endings always tend […]

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia, #2) by C.S. Lewis

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**30 Books in 30 Days** Book 1/30 I don’t know why I decided that in June* I would read essentially a book a day, but I decided I wanted to see if I could do it. I have, of course, stacked the deck a little with shorter novels, romances, audiobooks, etc, but I have given myself space to read some chonkers as well. Let’s see if I can do it! *So behind in reviews :(((( My re-visitation of the Chronicles of Narnia opens this challenge. […]

“I can’t excuse what he did next except by saying that he was very sorry for it afterward (and so were a good many other people).”

The Magician's Nephew (The Chronicles of Narnia, #1) by C.S. Lewis

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So before I discovered Harry Potter (sigh) this used to be my very favorite fantasy series. I read and re-read several of them endlessly, including this one. But I haven’t revisited it in years and years. I don’t even remember the last time I read it. Maybe when one of the movies came out? (The movies never captured the magic for me.) Anyway, I’ve been comfort re-reading favorite fantasy books over the past year and I had the hankering to pick this one back up […]



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