Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Hugh Laurie (1)

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie

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“Imagine you have to break someone’s arm.” Is this a satire? I don’t know! Part of the issue of this book is that people keep claiming it’s a satire. I am not so sure. Years ago I read Linda Hutcheon’s A Theory of Parody, which gets into the question of parody, satire, and spoof, in art and writing, and thinking about the venn diagram that defines all these terms. The basic idea is that parody is imitation, and sometimes comment (usually comment), but that that […]

Wallace Stegner (1)

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

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“Floating upward through a confusion of dreams and memory, curving like a trout through the rings of previous risings, I surface. My eyes open. I awake.” Wallace Stegner lived until his mid-80s and published some autobiographical writing before he died. I have to imagine it’s great because a) I have never read anything from him that wasn’t great and b) this novel proves how strong his writing was at least until his late 70s. This novel is primarily narrated by Larry Morgan, an oft-published novelist […]

Gore Vidal (7); Jan Berenstain (1-2); Michael Berenstain (1-2)

Clouds and Eclipses by Gore Vidal

The Berenstain Bears Brother Bear Favorites by Jan Berenstain; Michael Berenstain

The Berenstain Bears Sister Bear Favorites by Jan Berenstain; Michael Berenstain

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Clouds and Eclipses In general I tend to avoid collected stories from celebrated or beloved authors under the following circumstances: 1) they aren’t really known for short stories; 2) the stories are almost exclusively from when they were very young. Some obvious  exceptions occur. Philip Roth’s stories in Goodbye Columbus are all very good, two being some of the best writing he ever did. But Gore Vidal is known primarily for two things: novels and essays. He did some other things too, sometimes very well […]

Meditative Evaluation of Eels

The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson

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In The Book of Eels, Patrik Svensson interweaves what is known of the strange biology of eels with the history of human interaction and investigation of them as well as how eels have shaped his own life.  The reader comes away with a much greater appreciation for these admittedly creepy creatures, details about historical figures you wouldn’t have expected, and respect for his family. Eels are an ancient creature that metamorphize dramatically, going from tiny leaf shapes floating in the Sargasso Sea, to translucent creatures […]

Speculative Fiction Western

Outlawed by Anna North

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Westerns are not a genre I usually enjoy due to the high incidence of hangings amidst the dust, however, this came highly recommended and I’m glad I read it.  In Outlawed, Anna North presents an alternate history wherein a massive flu pandemic in the 1800s wiped out the majority of humanity, leaving the survivors to try to repopulate and pick up the pieces.  As a result of the drastic fall in population, childbearing is considered every woman’s duty, and barren women are at best considered […]

Intersectional Witchy Fiction

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

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Best for: People looking for magical worlds set in contemporary time, without supporting, say, anti-trans authors. In a nutshell: Witches are real, and there is a prophesy that a newly discovered teen, Theo, might bring about something very, very bad. A group of friends who were young witches together and have now followed different paths all become involved in addressing this. Worth quoting: N/A Why I chose it: I believe this was the last book I received before I ended a book subscription. What it […]



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