Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Instagram
  3. Follow us on Bluesky
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • Getting Started in CBR17
    • Rules of Respect
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
    • About Cannonball Read
  • Our Team
    • The CBR Team
    • Leaderboard
    • Recent Comments
    • Participant Interviews
    • Cannonballer Location Maps
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
    • Star Ratings
    • Featured Review Archive
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • Donate
    • CBR Merchandise
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Suggest a Review
    • 2025 Registration
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Social Media

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.”

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

January 15, 2021 by sabian30 1 Comment

While a lot of writing self-help books are about the basic mechanics and rules of good writing, Mr. Bradbury’s Essays on Creativity are more inspirational. He discusses what he has learned in his fifty years of writing and kindly shares it with us. He doesn’t promote so much as show you the path he’s taken. Of course, since his writing is so stellar, it only makes sense that his How To book would also be well-written and interesting. While he doesn’t make checklists, I do, […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: #writing, books about writing, Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Writing Fiction

sabian30's CBR13 Review No:2 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: #writing, books about writing, Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Writing Fiction ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Nothing Slow About It

The Art of Slow Writing by Louise DeSalvo

January 1, 2021 by sabian30 5 Comments

THE ART OF SLOW WRITING – Reflections on Time, Craft, and Creativity by Louise DeSalvo Of all the writing self-help books I’ve ingested recently, this one is probably the most helpful but the most badly named. It’s not about writing slowly at all. It’s about the tools a writer should be familiar with and possibly use to improve their craft. Nowhere does slowness enter into it unless it’s during the editing process at the end. I appreciate these writing books where the author is trying […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: #writing, DeSalvo, Louise DeSalvo, Self-help

sabian30's CBR13 Review No:1 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: #writing, DeSalvo, Louise DeSalvo, Self-help ·
Rating:
· 5 Comments

“While I was killing him, I had to wipe my mouth with my sleeve every now and then because I couldn’t stop salivating.”

Mars by Asja Bakić

October 25, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Anything can become normal, if you continue to stick through it. War, murder, cults, doppelgängers, being deported to Mars- whatever world you are dropped into becomes your world. Asja Bakić is a master of normalcy in abnormal times and places. Her short story collection, Mars, is filled to the gills with the weird becoming common place. I was originally drawn to this collection for less than academic reasons: it is short and it has a pretty corner! I was looking to race through my Bingo card, […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: #writing, Asja Bakić, bosnia, Creepy, croatia, dark humor, dystopia, Green, International, jennifer zoble, magical realism, refugee experience, short read, the feminist press, translated lit, war

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:111 · Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction · Tags: #writing, Asja Bakić, bosnia, Creepy, croatia, dark humor, dystopia, Green, International, jennifer zoble, magical realism, refugee experience, short read, the feminist press, translated lit, war ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“There’s a particular feeling in your body when something goes right after a long time of things going wrong. It feels warm and sweet and loose.”

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

May 3, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

Lily King is a magician. She takes an unassuming title like Writers and Lovers and crafts something beautiful, messy, and utterly captivating. Her last novel, 2014’s Euphoria, was my favorite read of the last decade- I have to admit that I was initially disappointed when Writers and Lovers was announced after the evocative fever of Euphoria.  A 30-something woman navigates creative struggle, debt, grief, and relationships? All I have to do is shout out of my front door and a line of people that fit the description […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: #writing, Anxiety, Boston, creativity, criticism, debt, euphoria, grief, heartbreak, lily king, loss, Love, lust, service industry, success

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:41 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: #writing, Anxiety, Boston, creativity, criticism, debt, euphoria, grief, heartbreak, lily king, loss, Love, lust, service industry, success ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

Don’t Nix this one from your to read pile. #obviouspun

The Nix by Nathan Hill

April 14, 2020 by cheerbrarian Leave a Comment

As I saw the saw my Goodreads Reading challenge accusatorily tell me how many books I am behind right now (6!!) I panic searched for something I could do via audio while going on my many social distancing walks. This came up on my local library app as “available now” and a cursory search showed me that folks I like had it in their to read piles, so on I went. Once again, I found myself unknowingly entering a book set in Chicago (where I […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Comedy/Humor, Fiction Tagged With: #writing, Nathan Hill, politics, The Nix

cheerbrarian's CBR12 Review No:12 · Genres: Audiobooks, Comedy/Humor, Fiction · Tags: #writing, Nathan Hill, politics, The Nix ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Because language has suffered enough…

Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language by Don Watson

April 10, 2020 by kniki Leave a Comment

When I first read the example ‘The competition policy reforms further improve the performance of government business enterprises through a program of regulation review, enhanced prices oversight, application of competitive neutrality principles and procedures for structural reform of public monopolies,’ on p65 of Death Sentence, I didn’t quite get the author’s point. I mean, I understood what it meant. But the next example of language spelled out exactly why a person like me needed to read this book. ‘Language is a key issue of access […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: #writing, Australia, bad writing, Don Watson, good writing, language

kniki's CBR12 Review No:10 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: #writing, Australia, bad writing, Don Watson, good writing, language ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • …
  • 9
  • Next Page »


Recent Comments

  • Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
  • Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
  • Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
  • Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
  • Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.
See More Recent Comments »

Support Our Mission

  • Support Our Mission: Donate Today!
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo

The reviews and comments posted on this site reflect the opinions of individual posters and do not reflect the views of Cannonball Read.

© 2025 Cannonball Read Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) | Log in