Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Fragment of Murderbot

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy by Martha Wells

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OK, I’m going for a Martha Wells two-fer today. And I’m going to start of with the shorter story. I have to give mu thanks to  faintingviolet here because if I hadn’t read their review, I would not have known this had been released.  And I thought I kept up pretty well with most things related to Murderbot But even though this short story is, well, short, (a fragment of a story even)  it made me very happy because it focuses of Peri/ART. Told from […]

A reminder of the importance of a good editor

Greatest Short Stories by Women - Grapevine Collectible by Virginia Woolf et. al

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Cbr17bingo purple Virginia Woolf, Kate Chopin, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen — these are just a few of the 17 women writers whose works are featured in this collection. While I enjoyed most of the stories, the publisher/editors made some very strange and aggravating choices that left me bewildered.  No editors are listed, and no forward or afterward is offered to explain what criteria were used to determine which writers and stories were included. The 17 stories range in original publication dates from 1832 to 1926, […]

The Murderbot Diaries – the novellas and the short stories. Some were re-reads, some were new to me

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol by Matha Wells

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

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My original reviews and ratings for the first four novellas can be found here. CBR17 Bingo: Favourite (goes for the whole series, and the protagonist) All Systems Red Nowhere Book Bingo 25: First in a series   It’s been five years since I first read The Murderbot Diaries, and it was interesting to revisit the original novella. This was selected as the January selection for my real-life book club (with the option to read the other three if people had time). While a lot of the members really enjoyed […]

Some Minds are Better Off Not Read

The Journey by Isobelle Carmody

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What a perfect pick for the ‘And Also…’ bingo  square. I started bingo this year with the ‘Part 1’  because I decided to re-read the Obernewtyn Chronicles, and it really helped me get out of a rut.  Now as part of my re-read, I’ve leant about a very short Obernewtyn prequel story available on Audible and now I guess I have a new ‘Part 1’ to review? The Journey is set before the Great White and it gives us a glimpse of  what the world was […]

“It’s about being treated as a thing, isn’t it. You’re a thing, and there is no safety.”

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (The Murderbot Diaries #4.5) by Martha Wells

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Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory is the last new-to-me Murderbot other than the most recent novel last year’s System Collapse (I’m planning on getting to it before the year is out, but we’ll see how I do). I knew very little going in, just that it was Mensah’s POV, occurred immediately after the events of Exit Strategy, that it was initially given free to people who pre-ordered Network Effect (its now free online), and that it was a short story.   Knowing that, I still don’t […]

Found Family with Spies, Killers, and Secrets but It’s Cozy

Spy X Family Family Portrait by Aya Yajima, Tatsuya Endo

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For some reason I really needed a cozy read not long ago; I’m part way through something that sounded like it should have but is turning out to not be that. I put down book #1, and went for option 2: manga. Or to be more precise, a series of short stories based on the manga (and also now anime) Spy X Family titled Spy X Family: Family Portrait. If you know the series it helps but it’s not totally mandatory as there is a […]



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