Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

It is the best of times and worst of times, to read Station Eleven

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

by 3 Comments

Okay, yes, that is a Dicken’s quote, and it would have been more appropriate to use Shakespeare, but the sentiment is there.  Being on the verge of a potential pandemic makes reading Station Eleven occasionally challenging, as it’s easy to extrapolate how this could happen.  However, the book ends in hope.  While the world has gone through an apocalypse, people are still creating and sharing art, lifting each other up by nourishing the soul.  And I would hope the same would happen in our world […]

would have been a nice little jaunt were it not for the casual racism

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

by Leave a Comment

Looking for a modern retelling of The Taming of the Shrew? May I suggest that your eschew this shrew and settle down on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn for another screening of 10 Things I Hate About You instead? 10 Things treats its characters with much more respect- I know- a teen movie from 1999 outranks Pulitzer winner Anne Tyler. I’m sure she’ll get over it. Vinegar Girl is often fun; our Kate spends her days working with preschoolers who are wise beyond their years, and her […]

CBRBingo – History/Schmistory – Creative and fanciful and thought provoking

The Porpoise by Mark Haddon

by Leave a Comment

Though I have a list of books to read for CBR Bingo, and stacks of books in my house unread, that certainly doesn’t stop me from checking out the NEW shelves at my local library: I mean, I’m not a monster. So, on my latest stopover to get books with the kiddo, I saw this shiny Mark Haddon novel calling my name. I read both A Spot of Bother and A Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-Time and though I couldn’t for the […]

Just as great as 9th grade.

Cue For Treason by Geoffrey Trease

by Leave a Comment

CBR11 Bingo – Back to School I read this book in my first semester of high school, in my 9th grade English class. All I really remembered was that it was set in Shakespearian England, and that I really liked it.  I apparently liked it so much that the copy on my bookshelf is my actual high school copy.  I wasn’t really the thieving type, and I don’t really remember why I didn’t have to return it at the end of the semester, but regardless, […]

An addition to the Question of Who Wrote Shakespeare

Seven Shakespeare by Harold Sakuishi

by Leave a Comment

Bingo 20 (History/Schmistory) This is actually a review of 9 books, sort of. Seven Shakespeares turned out to be a lot more interesting than I thought. The premise sounded simple: a re-imagined version of how William Shakespeare become the household name that he has been since about 1600. I was pretty impressed by the degree of historical accuracy in the world, in that a lot of real Londoners involved in the theatre scene appear, as do a lot of real elements of Renaissance London beyond […]

Oh Margaret. You can do so many things, but rapping is not one of them. (CBR 11 Bingo: Remix)

Hag-Seed: William Shakespeare's The Tempest Retold by Margaret Atwood

by Leave a Comment

I love a good Shakespearean remix. I devour everything Margaret Atwood has to offer. I was delighted to come across Hag-Seed, as I am still haunted by her addition to the Canongate Myth Series (Penelopiad) 14 years after reading. Atwood sets her storm in the “summer-stock” theater world of world of far flung Canada. Our Prospero is a wrongfully toppled director of a prestigious theater; toppled by schemes, toppled by loss, and toppled by grief. His island takes the form of a prison, where he rises once […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo