Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Dr Strangelove, My Favorite Skynet, Jonathan Swan.

The Red Queen by Isobelle Carmody

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Apologies, this is going to be a long one.  It took me a while to get here. After close to thirty years and seven volumes, I finally made it to The Red Queen –  the final entry in The Obernewtyn Chronicles. And I rather wish it wasn’t. This isn’t just some kind disappointment at hitting the end of the series, this is also me lamenting that we didn’t get an eighth volume—or a more hardline editor.  Let’s start with the positives: the first half of […]

Timothy Chalamet with nose plugs is gross

Dune by Frank Herbert

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I can’t say if I liked the movie or the book better. I fell asleep during the first (new) movie and I’m just meh about the book. I don’t know, the story was fine. It’s grand in scope, literally spanning the universe, but dealing mostly with one planet, the sand planet of Arrakis, inhabited by the Fremen and spaceship eating sandworms that produce something called, spice, which is necessary for interplanetary travel. Herbert writes about the struggle for power over Arrakis between two powerful families, […]

Highly intelligent cats and smack-talking dolphins. What’s not to love?

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

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Many people fantasize about an estranged relative dying and leaving them a fortune or a thriving business. Few people would indulge in this fantasy if the estranged relative’s business were villainy, and if, in addition to the job, they inherited a long list of enemies. This is the situation Charlie Fitzer finds himself in when his Uncle Jake dies and he’s visited by his uncle’s second-in-command, Mathilda Morrison. Even before Morrison shows up, Charlie has problems. Once a successful journalist, he’s now an underemployed substitute […]

Taking Time to Stop and Smell The Radioactive Countryside.

The Sending by Isobelle Carmody

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So I’m getting close to the endgame now with my re-read of The Obernewtyn Chronicles. As a reminder, the first book in the series, Obernewtyn , was published in the late eighties, while the book that I initially thought was going to be the final installment, The Stone Key, was published in 2008.  The Stone Key, as it transpires was not the last book at all—in fact, very little page-time had been spent on Elspeth’s final quest to disarm the Sentinel. Instead, it was more […]

Ted Chiang is our best argument for a STEAM education

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

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CBR16 BINGO: Celestial, because the first story is about humans building a tower into the heavens Four years ago I fell in love with Ted Chiang’s short story collection Exhalation, and I’ve finally made good on the promise to myself to read Stories of Your Life and Others. If you’ve read any of his work, you won’t be shocked to hear that this is the most moving, inventive, and thought-provoking collection I’ve read in years. Ted Chiang, a graduate of Brown University with a B.S. […]

Conversations with Houses

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Rose/House by Arkady Martine

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CBR16 Bingo: Dun Dun – Both books play on your nerves, and just when you think the protagonists may be reaching safe harbor things only get worse for them. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson – 4 stars Four people go to an allegedly haunted house to investigate – a scientist, a cheerful artist, a low down scoundrel, and a fragile, friendless young woman. All of them don’t return. This is a short book and slips by almost without you noticing it. At first […]



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