Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Silver to Gold

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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I don’t know what to say about this awesome book. Novik does a great job of developing three characters (Miryem, Wanda, and Irinushka). The setting of the story is great and we have a fire demon, a race of people called the Staryk who live in a wintery world that is adjacent to the Russia the story takes place in. I loved all three of these characters equally (which almost never happens). I wanted a follow-up story though about what happens to Miryem. The ending […]

“The fairy silver brought you a monster of fire for a husband, and me a monster of ice.” (Bingo)

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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#CBR11 Bingo: Listicle (on a bunch of best of 2018 lists, including NPR, Bustle and Bookbub). Would also work for “Award Winner”, as it’s won a Locus Award, and ALA Award and an Audie, or “Remix”, as it’s a fairy tale retelling. Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of Jewish moneylenders, but her father is a dreadful one, who doesn’t have the heart to actually claim back the debts that the villagers owe, even when his daughter is starving and the long, cold winters are making his wife sicker and […]

Silver in more ways than one

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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Bingo Review 6 (Remix) I am loving this Bingo thing; it’s forcing me to pick up things I’ve been wanting to read but have hesitated to start for various reasons. Spinning Silver is one of these books. I really loved Naomi Novik’s Uprooted fairy tale retelling, and Spinning Silver does a lot of the same things. The biggest change though is also my biggest complaint. Verdict: Spinning Silver is a distant silver to Uprooted‘s gold. Spinning Silver is a mix between a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin […]

Cannonballer Says….. thanks to everyone who reviewed this last year

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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It’s my CBR11Bingo Cannonballer Says Square, thanks to: narfna, velveeter, Aquillia, Jenny S, alwaysanswerb! Before I was a CBR participant I was a CBR lurker. I am always looking for something new to read and this book- and author- got such strong reviews that I’ve had it on my ‘ok I’m finally going to get to this’ reading list for months. Miryem is the daughter of a money-lender in a small town. Her father is too soft-hearted to be any good at his chosen profession, […]

“My expectations for a husband had lowered.”

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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Trying to summarize this is hard, because there are a lot of different storylines and viewpoints.  We have Miryem, the daughter of a not-very-good moneylender. Oh, he’s a good man, too good to be a moneylender in fact, in that he’s not the best at collecting his money back.  Miryem eventually decides to take up the slack and collect the debts herself. Responsibility takes a toll on people, especially when you have to take that burden from someone else.  She idly makes a comment that […]

Turning Silver Into Gold

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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I was so excited to get Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik as part of the book exchange because I loved Uprooted and had read and enjoyed the first book in Novik’s Temeraire series this summer. This is a loose (very loose) retelling of Rumpelstiltskin set in a past both realistic and imaginary and involving three young women.  Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, and she takes over her father’s business when his inability to demand payment leaves her family almost destitute and her […]



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