Hi, Tracy! Thank you so much for agreeing to participate in Quick Questions with a Cannonballer. You’ve been a member of the Cannonball Read community for several years. Would you mind sharing a little bit about yourself and how you found us?
Ok, a little about me: I grew up in Maryland and I was one of those horse crazy girls. I took riding lessons and read all the horse books I could get my hands on. After grad school (for clinical psychology), I moved to New York, where I now live with my husband, son, and cats.
I was a lurker on Pajiba for a long time, from back when it was “scathing reviews for bitchy people.” I had seen Cannonball Read come up on that website for years before I ever joined.
Now we have to go back in time. I was such an avid reader as a kid. I would borrow the maximum number of books allowed from the library, read them all in the few weeks I had them, and repeat (it helped that I was an introvert with social anxiety, so I didn’t have much else to do with my time).
As I got older, and especially with the advancement of the internet, I moved away from reading books. I started reading a lot of fanfiction and also spent a lot of time vegging in front of the TV, partly related to some mental health issues that came up. But I really wanted to return to reading, and this is where we circle back: I figured that signing up for CBR would be a great motivator. It helped quite a bit. While I still wasn’t reading as much as I’d have liked and wasn’t always hitting the CBR goal I’d set for myself, it was an improvement, and it has continued to improve in recent years.
While paging through your reviews, I realized that you have reviewed an extremely diverse collection of books. Do you have an absolute favorite genre? What do you consider to be the best representation of that genre?
I have always been drawn to science fiction and fantasy, even back in elementary school when I recall reading some Lloyd Alexander books, and in high school I was reading tons of Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey. I also liked romance novels and would buy them secretly from Waldenbooks (I’m dating myself) because my mom didn’t want me reading them before a certain age. I’ve continued to have an interest in those genres, though I read fantasy the most. I also like to sprinkle in the occasional literary, contemporary, and historical fiction and even the rare nonfiction book.
As for the best representation, that’s so hard to answer because there are a lot of possible answers. While I’m not done with the Realm of the Elderlings yet, I think I might list that whole series (or at least what I’ve read so far) as a great representation because it’s epic fantasy at its best: excellent character work, great world-building, and more inclusive than some older or classic epic fantasy.
Do you have a book (regardless of genre!) that you recommend the most? What is it and what makes it special?
Ooh, that’s tough. One of my favorite books is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which is so incredibly immersive with really lush writing. I like it so much that I’m going to get a tattoo of it later this year, but it’s really hit or miss for people, so I don’t recommend it often. Project Hail Mary is probably one that I recommend with some frequency. It’s a pretty good entry point into science fiction and introduced a character that I am ride-or-die for (but I can’t elaborate because of spoilers).
Speaking of reviews, do you have one that you feel really proud of? What makes this one special? We’d love to share the link here so everyone can read and enjoy it.
I’m going to provide two answers here. The first is my review of Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. My personality comes out in a lot of my reviews (I think), but that’s especially the case here because I was just the biggest fan of the book.
However, it contains spoilers for readers who haven’t read Gideon the Ninth yet, so I’m also going to include my review for Babel by R. F. Kuang. My ability to (and tendency toward) insightfully analyze books fluctuates, but I think I did a pretty good job with this one, in effectively critiquing the strengths and weaknesses and engaging with the social commentary.
How do you feel about book to TV or movie adaptations? If your favorite is being/has been adapted, would you rather it be a series or a movie? Do you have a favorite adaptation even if it isn’t necessarily your favorite book?
Eek! I don’t watch a lot of TV and movies these days, but I generally approve of the idea of them. The execution . . . depends. I did think that Erasure by Percival Everett was very well-adapted into American Fiction. And although there was one part that annoyed me, if I remember correctly the Lord of the Rings movies did a pretty good job honoring the books. I’m really looking forward to checking out the new Murderbot show, but I have a toddler at home so my free time is limited and usually goes towards reading instead of watching TV.
We’ve now reached that terrifying part of the interview where we play Kiss Marry Kill with the cast of your above mentioned favorite adaptation. Whom would you pick for each?
Hmm. Which adaptation to pick? I’ll go with Murderbot because although I haven’t watched it yet, I’m excited about it, and I’ve read the first 4 books, so I know who the characters are. Marry Murderbot because we’re both introverts and I know I can be left alone. Kiss Mensah because she’s awesome. Kill the leader of GrayCris (but if picking a villain is too easy, let’s go with Gurathin instead). [If you want me to go with something I’ve actually seen, let’s say kiss Aragorn, marry Sam, kill Sauron of course.]
We have come to the end of our time together. Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us today. What is one final thing that you would like for your fellow Cannonballers to know about you?
When I have the time, one of my other hobbies is knitting. Also, I have a TikTok account with bookish content.
Now that you’ve learned all about Tracy, head over and see what she’s been reading lately. Or meet other Cannonballers we’ve interviewed recently.
