This is my quarter Cannonball – I have reached my goal by mid-year. Dare I now try and complete a half Cannonball, after the failure of 2014? My quarter is going to end on a high note – the remarkable Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. This has of course been reviewed to death already this year, so what more can I add? For those few people who are not aware, this book centres on the survivors of a world wide flu epidemic, which […]
Yes, I too Liked This Book (don’t let it keep you from reading it).
After much hype and fanfare (and waiting on the library hold list), I finally got my hands on Station Eleven. I purposefully didn’t read many reviews on this book so I wouldn’t be influenced by others’ take on things. All I really knew was what the publisher provides as a preview…that an orchestral and theatric troupe travels around what is left of Michigan after a devastating illness has decimated the world population. I wasn’t quite sure what to think of that. I’m happy to report […]
Be the Change You Wish to See in the World
The Parable of the Sower, by the brilliant Octavia Butler (author of Kindred), is a piece of dystopian fiction set in California in the 2020s. It’s not clear precisely what happened, but rule of law and access to utilities, education, and basic necessities have been severely curtailed. Our narrator is Lauren Olamina, a teenager who lives inside one of the remaining walled communities on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Lauren is a “sharer” or “feeler,” i.e., a person who has a condition called hyper empathy […]
It’s a bittersweet Symphony
I came across this book due to all the metaphorical trumpets heralding it via Pajiba, and dove in, excited to see what all the hubbub was about. As a big fan of post-apocalyptic literature I am both the target audience, and a cautious critic, and I think this book is absolute perfection. When a virus wipes out 99.9 percent of the world’s population, the survivors must carve out an existence for themselves, and live with the echoes of those who were lost. Station Eleven follows the lives of […]
Book Club Discussion Post: Station Eleven
Welcome to the Cannonball Read Book Club discussion of Station Eleven! I’m so excited that so many of you have decided to take on Station Eleven in time to have a discussion about the book. Let’s start with a few ground rules: Since we’re anticipating lots of conversation, please try your best to reply directly to each other, that way they are alerted and can keep discussing! Discussion is the important word. Let’s have a conversation (or as close a facsimile as we can in […]
Where’s the Queue Forming for the ‘Survival is Insufficient’ Tattoo?
Getting this in just under the wire for tomorrow. Hopefully I have some time tomorrow to jump into the discussion. Or lurk. I’m good at lurking. I’m sure by now, most know the basic premise of this book – deadly flu wipes out a lot of the population and years later, humanity is still trying to survive. As far as dead horses and the beating there of, it’s a genre that’s been heavily explored, especially if you count zombie apocalypses into the equation. But for […]
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