Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Sometimes a beautiful cover and a simple story are enough

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

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CBR 17 BINGO: Purple (see cover) Illustrated by Victoria Sawdon It’s been five years since the publication of Piranesi, and 21 years (!) since the release of the spellbinding Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, so I know I’m not the only fan who squealed with delight at the arrival of a new (tiny) book by Susanna Clarke. I love the existence of this book, but I must warn you up front that it’s a short story, and barely that. You can read it in 20 […]

A Slow Burn Magic Story

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

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I’m not usually interested in historical fiction, but after reading Piranesi, I wanted to try more of Susanna Clarke’s work. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is set in England during the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s. There used to be magic in England, but magic hasn’t been seen in centuries. Instead, the people who call themselves magicians are theoretical magicians – they study magic but don’t practice it. However, in the quest to discover why magic is no longer practiced in England, one of […]

Oh Oh No, It’s Magic

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

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To quote perhaps the best book review ever written, and certainly the pithiest: “the covers of this book are too far apart.” I’m not sure what the rules here are on reviewing DNFs, because I make it a point of (foolish, stubborn) pride to finish everything I start. But this book just wore me down with it’s discursive nature, the episodic structure of the plot, and the tedious footnotes which ceased being funny long before the author realized it. I suppose, given the sales, that […]

A twisting tale

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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I chose to listen to Piranesi purely because it was the 2021 Audie Awards Audiobook of the Year, and was read by none other than the velvet voiced Chiwetel Ejiofor. Piranesi is about a man navigating his life living in a maze, and likewise presents itself to the reader as a puzzle that must be navigated. I’ve seen this book described as ‘beautiful and profound’, ‘spectacularly moving’, ‘stunning’, and ‘a masterful work of weird fiction’. I’m glad to see that it has had the effect […]

An Innovative Take on a Classic Fantasy Theme

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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It’s impossible to avoid the allusions and parallels, both implicit and explicit, between Piranesi and other fantasy novels. After all, there’s a quote from C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew right at the beginning of the novel. But somehow this novel feels new, maybe because of how it’s narrated. We get the perspective of the character of Piranesi from inside a world that is the only world he remembers, rather than the perspective of an outsider visiting a world that’s new to them. The book is […]



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