Holly

Holly's Reviews:

Castaway Story for the Cosmos Age, LOVE

The Martian by Andy Weir

December 31, 2014 by Holly 3 Comments

This is a story about an astronaut named Mark Watney who is accidentally left behind on Mars after his crew believes he is killed during the emergency evacuation of their base camp on Mars (I know I already said Mars, but omg Mars) in a freak windstorm. Our hero has to figure out how to survive with his available resources, ration his remaining supplies, and try to get back in contact with Earth, knowing that his food will run out before they can rescue him. The author, Andy Weir, studies engineering, orbital mechanics, and relativity as a hobby (and, apparently, he knows quite a […]

12/31/2014 Holly's CBR6 Review No:26 |

Hooray for Complex Teenaged Characters

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

December 30, 2014 by Holly 2 Comments

Sometimes when I decide to read a book, I don’t read the synopsis on the back cover or the specific praise from various newspapers or book review sites inside the front cover. Sometimes I just really like (one of) the authors*, and I read that someone on Pajiba liked it better than The Fault in Our Stars and was up-voted seven times, and I find it at the store when I’m feeling impulsive, and I just read it with no plot information whatsoever. (*I love John Green. This fact about me has been well-established. I don’t mean that I dislike David Levithan, […]

12/30/2014 Holly's CBR6 Review No:25 |

Connie Willis writes books for book lovers

Bellwether and Lincoln's Dreams by Connie Willis

December 29, 2014 by Holly Leave a Comment

I’m a little sad that I only heard of Connie Willis this year, of course from all the glowing CBR6 reviews of To Say Nothing of the Dog, which might be my new favorite book. After reading two more by Connie Willis, she is definitely my new favorite author. Connie Willis writes books that acknowledge and build on the wealth of information that already exists in the world. She writes about scholars, researchers, scientists, and historians. She writes about people who read extensively, people who know their librarians by their first names, people who think in terms of historical and scientific and literary metaphors. She […]

12/29/2014 Holly's CBR6 Review No:24 |

Allie Brosh is the hero we need

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

December 12, 2014 by Holly 6 Comments

A while back I was listening to this Marc Maron podcast in which he interviews our beloved Allie Brosh. First– we all know and love Allie, right? Oh my god you guys, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to her webcomic/blog immediately, please! You won’t be sorry. She is hilarious and brilliant and illustrates stories from her life with a paintbrush program and it’s amazing. And the really special thing about her comics is that she can talk about serious topics– like self-esteem, introversion, and her own severe struggles with depression– and she does it so beautifully and truthfully […]

12/12/2014 Holly's CBR6 Review No:22 |

My brother wrote three novels and I read them, with mixed results

Bomb Squad I, II, and III by Nick Chamberlin

December 6, 2014 by Holly 8 Comments

A few years ago, my brother Nick made a movie called Bomb Squad about four siblings who discover they have super powers. The story was based on one we imagined as kids, basically the answer to “what if the four of us had super powers?” Which ones would we have? What would our names be? What would our “hero” names be? What battles would we fight? My bro got into filmmaking and just went ahead and made the film. He wrote the script, storyboarded, got friends and colleagues on board, bought or rented equipment, directed, edited, did almost all the effects and sound […]

12/6/2014 Holly's CBR6 Review No:21 |

A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russel

November 16, 2014 by Holly 3 Comments

Sort of related, I promise: I unashamedly love zombie movies. They fascinate and terrify me. And after years of watching them, I’ve learned to go in with the expectation that everyone dies. Under no circumstances am I to get too attached to the characters or root too hard for my favorites, for therein lies only disappointment. Likewise, any discerning person knows not to get involved in a World War II story without a strong dose of expectation that most of the characters will die, be terrorized, or otherwise have a really shit time. You know to not get too attached […]

https://cannonballread.com/2014/11/12970/

11/16/2014 Holly's CBR6 Review No:18 |

Romance may not be my Bag

The Governess Affair and Be My Love by Courtney Milan and Lucy Kevin

November 15, 2014 by Holly 1 Comment

I read The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan because it was free, and all of you wonderful crazies are in love with it and with her in general, and also because it’s super short and let’s be honest about my cannonballing skills here–if I make it, it will be by the skin of my teeth, and because of novellas like this. I picked up Be My Love by Lucy Kevin because it was free, and it’s set in the Pacific Northwest (where I used to live and where my HEART STILL WANDERS) (not really, my heart loves sunshine, so we’re happy here, […]

11/15/2014 Holly's CBR6 Review No:17 |

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

November 9, 2014 by Holly 6 Comments

I’m 97% sure that To Say Nothing of the Dog is my new favorite book. My old favorite, Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus, is also a romantic drama with the additional sci-fi element of time travel, set in the future but taking place mostly in the past, heavy on world history and motives, causes, effects, and the arc of humanity. It’s lovely. But TSNotD is all that, and funny! and it has a dog! and a cat! And it discusses parts of history with which I am more familiar. And it wasn’t written by a straight-up psycho. (At least as far as […]

11/9/2014 Holly's CBR6 Review No:15 |

emmalita on Why Change is HardThis sounds really interesting. Is it more geared towards organizations, or would an individual working outside of an organized structure benefit?
Jen K on Dating and Food in LAThat is kind of a perfect description. There really isn’t much conflict; they slip into a relationship, Nik gets cold feet, and then she gets...
Jen K on The ReverendVery cool! Congratulations to your friend! A friend recently asked me to read a novel she is working on for feedback, and I can’t wait...
emmalita on Dating and Food in LAI really liked the way this one started, but it ended on a whimper for me.
emmalita on Choose Your Own Austin AdventureI liked this one a lot too.

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