Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Gentle and Kind, Existential and Grounded: Monk and Robot

A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1) by Becky Chambers

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot #2) by Becky Chambers

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First time on Cannonball Reads. First comment on Pajiba two days ago (after 10 years of lurking). First time in years that I’m bothering to review. Thanks for exiting and offering a platform for whatever T H I S is that I need for right now… Which aligns with my reviews for my first reads of 2023 that aren’t library/ work-related: Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot novellas, A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. These two novellas – not sure if we can call them […]

“You don’t have to have a reason to be tired. You don’t have to earn rest or comfort. You’re allowed to just be.”

A Prayer for the Crown Shy (Monk & Robot #2) by Becky Chambers

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We must protect Becky Chambers at ALL COSTS. Her writing is charming and moving and lovely and somehow, in tiny little book volumes, she finds all the right words to pluck your heartstrings and fill you with hope. Reading this book series is like talking to a friend that knows what you are going through, has been there, and has figured out the most perfect way to express the fears and emptiness that you feel. Or maybe that’s just me? Nah. These books are universal […]

Everyone deserves rest, and you don’t have to earn it

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

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Dex is a monk who serves a bear god whose purview is comfort, rest, relaxation, and pleasure. Needing a change in their life, Dex decides to switch up their practice from working in a garden to being a tea monk. Dex goes from town to town, listening to people’s problems, and offering a kind word and personalized cup of tea to soothe them. Dex eventually builds a reputation for themself as one of the best tea monks out there, and yet they are still not […]

“Because I know that no matter what, I’m wonderful.”

A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1) by Becky Chambers

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As the year is winding down I find myself in the position of staring aspirationally at my reading goal. I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet, so I am on the hunt for small books that will be a good way to spend my time and get me one step closer to that end. Clocking in at a mere 147 pages this little novella will charm, amaze, and move you. The only reason I wasn’t full-on sobbing at the end (cathartically, not with […]

Three to drop and one to circle back to someday

Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Jay Cooper and Maureen Johnson

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

A Psalm for the Wild-built by Becky Chambers

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Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Jay Cooper and Maureen Johnson I got about halfway through this book. The gist is that, in a Quaint English Village, everything and everyone is out to murder you. The first few chapters made me chuckle. I skimmed the rest. There are some quizzes to see if you are paying attention. For me, the novelty wore off after the first one. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson I […]

“And to that end, welcome comfort, for without it, you cannot stay strong.” Bingo #4

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

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CBR14Bingo: “Dough” – There is no money in Panga.  Instead there is an exchange system of ‘pebs’ (digital pebbles) to “acknowledge someone’s labor and thank them for what they bring to the community”. They were running up against a wall, and it didn’t matter whether they understood where the wall had come from, or what it was made of.  The only way to get through it was to stop trying, for a while.  …  They would focus on Mosscap and let the remainder wait. … […]



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