Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

What Would You Do If You Could Know When You Will Die?

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

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Best for: Those who love a meaty philosophical explorations about the meaning of life and the decisions we make. In a nutshell: One morning, everyone age 22 and older in the entire world receives a box that says ‘The measure of your life lies within.’ Society quickly learns the strings inside correlate with how long each person will live. Worth quoting: “Since the strings arrived, so many of our conversations are about such big, heavy ideas, literally life and death. And I miss talking about […]

Berserk 2

Berserk 2 by Kentaro Miura

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Berserk 2 continues the Slug Count encounter of the Black Swordsman arc. We get a little more backstory about Guts, showing that in addition to being inhumanly strong, he is a master swordsman, able to perfectly deflect attacks moving so fast they can’t be seen. This surprises Puck, who thought up until now that Guts operated based only on brute strength. Guts makes his way into the Slug Count’s lair, fighting against him and insurmountable odds. This is one of the first times you see a constant […]

“Didn’t you know the insides of dogs and cows and birds and fish are exactly like that of man? The only difference is the clothes we wear!”

The Narrow Cage and Other Modern Fairy Tales by Vasily Eroshenko, Adam Kuplowsky (translator)

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CBR16 Bingo: Dreams – Eroshenko’s fairytales give us glimpses of his dreams for a more compassionate and peaceful future where all are respected no matter their gender, race, class, or ability – and the fears he has about what may have to be done to achieve them. Fairytales as oral traditions bear the stamp of the cultures that tell them; fairytales when written by an individual bear the stamp of culture channelled through that individual, which is a different thing altogether. There really are some people […]

Berserk 1

Berserk 1 by Kentaro Miura

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I’m cheating on multiple fronts here. I’ve already read Berserk multiple times, and I’ve already reviewed some of the deluxe library editions. However I’m working through some intense bullshit books right now (cough Atlas Shrugged) that are going to take me forever to finish, so I need to read something easier in between. Berserk 1 in this case refers to the first trade book of the Berserk manga series. In it and its opening Black Swordsman arc, we are introduced to Guts, an ultra-violent mercenary characterized immediately […]

Which, of Course, Features a Generic Redhead on the Cover

The Case of the Borrowed Brunette by Erle Stanley Gardner

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  cbr16bingo vintage So the forties were boom years in Hollywood, and everybody was looking for a break.  Starlets were a dime a dozen, so when an ad appeared offering a job to young ladies of a certain appearance and some very specific measurements, stating that if they would hang around various street corners for an hour, wearing specified clothes, they might pick up a job.  What can it hurt, right? Mason just happens to pick up on the observation, as he and Della are […]

“Comedy is laughter in the face of death”

Wyrd Sisters (1988) by Terry Pratchett

Witches Abroad (1991) by Terry Pratchett

Lords and Ladies (1992) by Terry Pratchett

Carpe Jugulum (1998) by Terry Pratchett

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These are re-reads, these are beloved, these are–I suggest–suitable for the fanfic square because they are riotous and revelrous games with Shakespeare plays and fairy stories and Dracula and witch traditions, even while they question the logics behind them. For example, as Pratchett points out, witches would probably not be dancing around nude during their eldritch rites because it would get quite chilly. Wyrd Sisters (1988) Autocorrect keeps trying to make wyrd into ‘word’, which is fitting, because this is a book partly about the […]



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