Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The business of empire and myth making

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

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There are a few different layers through which to view this book. At the top, there is the story between the knight and the scholar, two people intertwined across time, who are in a loop and keep reliving the same story, with variations, and have a strong connection and love, and whether they can ever break the cycle and get their happy ending. It is a story about storytelling – something Harrow seems to be more and more interested in with the Spindle Splintered novels […]

Out of the Mouths of Nursemaids and Travelers

The Watkins Book of English Folktales by Neil Philip

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England has a great culture of letters, but when it comes to folklore, people often don’t think further than Jack and the Beanstalk. In this collection of English folktales though, we can see that the isles have a great tradition of oral storytelling beyond it. In my ongoing pursuit of folklore from around the world, I never really stopped to consider English folktales until this book reminded me that my knowledge of it was in fact pretty scanty. Over the course of about 400 pages, […]

What truth does deception for deception’s sake reveal?

Amoralman: A True Story and Other Lies by Derek Delgaudio

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CBR15 BINGO: Adulthood, because it describes how the author grew into himself and his career Bingo! Take the Skies, Relation”Ship”, North America, You Are Here, Adulthood A couple of years back, a friend recommended (nay, demanded) that I get a free 30-day Hulu subscription so I could watch Derek Delgaudio’s In & Of Itself. I hate signing up for subscriptions to watch one show or movie, but it sounded intriguing and the friend assured my husband and me that we would appreciate it. A show […]

Good Boy, Good Book

Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac

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This is a happy dog story! Malian (which is pronounced “Mary-Ann” in Wabanaki language) is visiting her grandparents on their Wabanaki reservation when shelter-in-place orders go into effect for the COVID-19 pandemic.  What was supposed to be a brief visit becomes a long stay, with Malian trying to keep up with Zoom middle school on the rez’s spotty wi-fi and trying to keep her elderly family members safe. Malian isn’t the only unexpected visitor to the rez; a beautiful, mysterious dog shows up and makes […]

Going from “talk the whiskers off a catfish” to silent as a mouse

Catching a Storyfish by Janice N. Harrington

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I did it again. I was emailed “the book is here, please pick it up” and I said, “What book?” “Why this book? How did it get on my radar? Who was I when I thought this sounded interesting? When was this request done?  Where was I sitting when I thought to request?” Okay, not that one. But the other questions (maybe) happened. But regardless of the who, what, when, where, why and how of it all, I am glad I did request Catching a […]

Daydreams and reality

Shahrzad and the Angry King by Nahid Kazemi

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Shahrzad and the Angry King is one of those books that I did not know if I liked or not. Now, I am not saying that Nahid Kazemi wrote a bad book, but they did write one of those picture books that has a lot going on and it is not a one time read. Also, I think what I had was only an online sample from Edelweiss, so perhaps some parts were missing. But regardless, there was enough there to really sink my teeth […]



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