Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Not My Favorite

Her Body & Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

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BINGO: Myths: The first short story is a clever retelling of urban legends. Best for: People who like a bit of sex with their short stories. In a nutshell: A collection of essays exploring womanhood. Worth quoting: ‘ “Do you hate my body, Mom?” she says. Her voice splinters in pain, as if she were about to cry. “You hated yours, clearly, but mine looks just like yours used to, so—“ ‘ Why I chose it: Recommended at my Book Spa appointment. Review: Some of […]

A raging fire that begins to surface

The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado

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Bingo: Gateway TW for the book: rape, sexual assault, stereotypical red-headed pimpled misogynistic teenage boys. If creepy settings, queer POC characters, and reckoning with sexual assault are your thing, this is your book. I went into this comic TP completely blind, having picked it up only because I knew Carmen Maria Machado was the writer behind it. Machado can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned, she’s a stunning writer. El and Vee are best friends living in the town of Shudder-To-Think, Pennsylvania, where […]

I never read prologues.

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

White Fang by Jack London

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

The Man on the Balcony by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

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In the Dream House – 4/5 Stars This memoir came out a year or so ago, and because I was kind of mixed on the short story collection, I didn’t pick it up. Since then, I’ve been a little back and forth on reading it or not reading. Partly, because of the subject matter, I knew it would be rough going. And it is. This is a book that involves Carmen Maria Machado looking back and narrating being in an abusive relationship with another writer, […]

The prince is sleeping now.

Letters from Atlantis by Robert Silverberg

Sailing to Byzantium by Robert Silverberg

Nightwings by Robert Silverberg

Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson

The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovannino Guareschi

Technopoly by Neil Postman

The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman

The Most Beautiful House in the World by Witold Rybczynski

Seize the Day by Saul Bellow

The Game of X by Robert Sheckley

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

White Fang by Jack London

The Man on the Balcony by Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall

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Letters from Atlantis – 4/5 Stars In this novella, we meet a time travelling archeologist/anthropologist writing letters to his wife. Seems normal enough (well, minus the time travelling) but what we find out is that this narrator is actually 20,000 years in the past in Atlantis, the mythical or not mythical island country that existed pre-historically, and if the stories that go at least as far back as Plato go, was seemingly advanced. So the time traveler is observing, this society has electricity, as well […]

Her Body and Other Parties

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

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So, I picked this us like…three years ago?  And the first three stories were SO MUCH, that I put it down, and then it sat on my “currently reading” list for a long time, and finally I thought, let’s just do it.  It’s October!  Time for some creepy short stories. These are creepy, but not quite horror.  They are visceral, gothic-adjacent.  Machado’s style is so abrupt and beautiful and precise, but precise like someone is describing something that you can’t quite see, until you see […]

Short story review dump (Part IV)

Cuisine des Mémoires by N.K. Jemisin

Valedictorian by N.K. Jemisin

Blur by Carmen Maria Machado

Staying Behind by Ken Liu

Recitatif by Toni Morrison

The Foster Portfolio by Kurt Vonnegut

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This is something new I’m trying this year, where I review short stories as stand alone stories, not part of anthologies or collections. Here are parts I, II, and III. Cuisine des Mémoires by N.K. Jemisin (5 stars) This little experiment of a short story read every day (which I’ve already failed at) has led to some wonderful discoveries. Along with Ken Liu, N.K. Jemsisin (who I’ve long wanted to read) are definitely at the top of the list, though. A man is taken to […]



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