Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Octavia Butler Predicted MAGA

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

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Cbr13bingo Reader’s Choice (sub for New Series), bingo #12 Book two of Octavia Butler’s Earthseed Series delivers an astounding gut punch follow-up to Parable of the Sower. Her imagining of what would happen in America’s future is frighteningly accurate. Set in the 2030s and beyond, Parable of the Talents takes us back to Northern California and the Earthseed community known as Acorn. Lauren Oya Olamina and her followers have escaped the upheaval and violence of Southern California and built a commune based on the principles […]

Three little words.

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

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I’ve just finished reading Boy Swallows Universe and my heart is still racing. From the beginning that is an ending to the ending that is a beginning, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Admittedly I did just tear through it in four days in preparation to see the stage adaptation this week but honestly that impetus  wasn’t needed – I genuinely wanted to read it in every spare minute I had. Eli Bell is a teenager growing up through the 80s and 90s in suburban Brisbane. […]

I almost gave up on my white whale 100 times…

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

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Bingo: white whale (plus another bingo: ring) CW: racism, misogyny, castration, cruelty I think there is a good reason that ‘classic’ literature, the kind we’re taught in school, is made up of a lot of white whales. When a book is held up as an example, as a work that has near-universal things to teach us, it takes away some of the enjoyment, as it adds an element of work. We’re not supposed to simply enjoy it, we’re supposed to take something away from it. […]

I did not see that coming

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

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CBR Bingo: Book Club (Cannon Book Club selection) In 1989, I was 7 years old. I wasn’t the kind of little girl who loved princesses, but like almost any other kid my age, I loved The Little Mermaid. I have no idea how many times I’ve seen it, but I know most of it by heart. I remember learning to play “Under the Sea” in 7th grade band (I also learned Aladdin’s “A Whole New World” in American Sign Language in 5th grade choir, but that’s a […]

Gateway to Science Fiction and Octavia Butler

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

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Cbr13bingo Gateway, Bingo #9-11 (horizontal, vertical and inner square) Parable of the Sower (1993) is an astoundingly prescient work of science fiction. Octavia Butler (1947-2006), winner of Nebula, Hugo and MacArthur prizes, tells the story of hyperempath Lauren Olamina in mid-2020s California. I reviewed this novel for the 2015 Cannonball Read, and I do believe that it (or really any written by Butler) would be a Gateway to reading more sci-fi/fantasy, and I hope a Gateway to reading more by Butler. Butler writes powerfully and […]

Dune Messiah – a worthy successor to Dune

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

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What happens after you conquer everything? This is a question i have always wondered about after hearing the story of Alexander the Great. Paul Atreides has won his war against the Harkonnens & the Emperor & his Fremen have brought their jihad to every corner of the known universe. Yet Paul is miserable.  This is partly due to his prescience which traps him as he sees the future unfold & he cannot see any way to escape it. He also sees his beloved Fremen move […]



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