Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Biking in a Winter Wonderland

Chirri & Chirra, the Snowy Day by Kaya Doi

by Leave a Comment

The Chirri and Chirra books are surreal. You can hear the translation as sometimes the wording does not flow naturally on the ears. You will enjoy the story, but you probably should suspend belief. If you are looking for realism, Kaya Doi’s books are probably not what you are looking for. However, if you like a casual, somewhat natural mix of fantastic and realism, the Chirri and Chirra books are perfect. And the illustrations are very sweet with soft, happy colors, a lot of detail […]

A strong finish to this series about magical oppression.

Ptolemy's Gate (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, #3) by Jonathan Stroud

by Leave a Comment

Worth slogging through book two just to get to this one. (And I’m still not convinced my reaction to that book wasn’t just me trying to read it at the wrong time.) This is the third and final book in the original Bartimaeus Trilogy (he wrote a prequel in 2010 but I think I’m going to pass on that one). It takes place three years after the events of The Golem’s Eye. Nathaniel/John Mandrake is high up in government now, in charge of what is […]

The More Things Change & The Weird Wild West

How to Suppress Women's Writing by Joanna Russ

Silver on the Road by Laura Anne Gilman

by Leave a Comment

The last two-book review I wrote was compare and contrast, because the material in each book related to the other book. This time, not so much: one is non-fiction, and one is fiction, and without performing some mental calisthenics at a level I’m not willing to do right now I don’t think I could write a unified review. 

Who Published This Book Half-Finished?

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children) by Seanan McGuire

by 2 Comments

Coming off the heels of the stupendous Dread Nation, I was pumped for this YA novel. The setup: children travel through magical portals to alternate worlds, only to become distraught upon their return to their tedious old lives. (Postmodern Wonderland or Narnia!) Though this book won all the awards—Hugo, Alex, Locus Nebula—it utterly failed to enchant me. I suppose my heart is a closed door. Or maybe an inky void. Nancy (the sixth most interesting character, maybe) lands at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children […]

But the Wind Goes Right Through You, It’s No Place for the Old

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

by 3 Comments

Okay, I’m going to be upfront here that this was a book club pick (my book club pick, actually), and we broke a cardinal rule: never read the first in a series. It’s incredibly difficult to judge character arcs and abandoned plot lines, because you know that the story is only just beginning. That also makes it difficult to write a fair review, but I will try. Do you love whimsical stories rooted in complicated family dynamics? Apparently I do, because I adored reading this […]

Arrr, There be Pirates and Voodoo Here

On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers

by Leave a Comment

I needed a book to listen to at work and this came up in the available now selection at my library.  I have never seen the movie so I don’t know if this follows it or if it is even based on the book.  John Chandagnac, a puppeteer,  is sailing on the Vociferous Carmichael to confront his uncle who stole his fathers fortune when it is attacked by pirates.  On board are Beth Hurwood, her father Benjamin, and his doctor Leo Friend.  After wounding the pirate captain, Philip Davies, with a […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo