Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About bjornsnipe

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Books have been a part of my life from a very young age . I'm currently being ruled over by 3 cats (Rafferty, Bodhi Rook & Yersinia Pestis), who I can mostly get not to chew on book covers. Lately, I'll read anything, though Science Fiction and Romance will always be on the bottom of the pile.

bjornsnipe's Reviews:

“I want to lead the Victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter.”-Freddie Mercury

How to Be a Victorian: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Victorian Life by Ruth Goodman

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Ruth Goodman, British freelance historian, gives an in-depth look at what you could expect out of the daily life in Victorian England. A really in-depth look at the life, well researched, and in some cases hands-on. As the title says, she takes you from the moment you would wake up in the morning to the moment you’d close your eyes at night. From morning toilette to evening delight, she covers what you’d wear, what you’d eat, how you’d earn a living, what chores would entail. […]

“How wonderful! I, too, am filled with an encroaching dread over my own mortality.”

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

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“Don’t you wish you were here?” Arthur Parnassus, headmaster of an orphanage for magical children, has got a reasonably good life going on. His life on a small island with the love of his life Linus Baker, the local sprite Zoe Chapelwhite, her girlfriend Helen Webb, and the six wonderful children whose adoptive father he is desperately wanting to become. However, when the government branch in charge of magical beings raise their heads to investigate the island, and a new child comes to the island […]

“There is nothing under the moon, however fine, that is not subject to corruption.”

Dark Fire: A Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery by C.J. Sansom

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I am a huge fan of mystery novels, especially historical ones sent in Tudor England, so the Shardlake series was a a huge yes for me. Sansom delivers an incredibly well-written and well-researched England set during the reign of Henry VIII. This one, the second in the series, finds hunchback (yes, it’s important to the character) lawyer Matthew Shardlake trying to track down a barrel of Greek Fire promised to Henry by Shardlake’s patron Thomas Cromwell; a barrel that has apparently resulted in the deaths […]

“The road we walk on was built with the stones that scar our feet”.

Thousand Shrine Warrior by Jessica Amanda Salmonson

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After the events of the last book (The Golden Naginata), Tomoe Gozen has laid down her sword and become a wandering nun; however, an attack on a young woman causes her to pick up her sword again. Now somewhat back on the path of Bushido, Tomoe Gozen must once again wander Naippon, the fictional equivalent of Japan, only this time in a battle for her soul. To be honest, this book reminded me of the title of a biography on the John Adams family: “Descent […]

“Impossible things are really rough to do, you know.”

The Shattered Lens: Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

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Like give a positive review of this book. By the fourth book, you should really know how you feel about the characters, and be invested in the plot; I don’t, and I’m not. Alcatraz just gets smarmier and more annoying each page, and the rest of the characters seem like they’re just walking through their parts, reading off lines to move the plot along. Not that most of them really come off as fully fleshed out characters anymore; they’re mostly named clothes hangers to hang […]

Will Trade Katana for Wedding Kimono (But Must You?)

The Golden Naginata: The Second of the Tomoe Gozen Saga by Jessica Amanda Salmonson

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This book was a slight letdown compared to the first one. In The Disfavored Hero, Tomoe Gozen was a strong, kickass lesbian female samurai who was living her life following the Bushido; in this one, she’s on the run from her father because he wants her to get married. Tomoe fights against this until she doesn’t, giving in to filial piety/familial duty becoming unfortunately a stereotypical submissive Japanese wife! And she’s happy about it; so happy that it becomes pretty much her entire personality. The […]



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