Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


What if the only survivors of the apocalypse were…boring?

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

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Ish is the personification of that quote about “god grant me the confidence of a mediocre white guy,” except that he is even more assured of his specialness than usual, because he survived the plague that wiped out most of the rest of humanity. When he finally ventures out of his mountain cabin, civilization is dead and survivors are sparse. He adopts a dog and takes a road trip, looking for other people who are worthy of his company. Finding no one (California to New […]

Fiction or no? Doesn’t matter, SO good!

Storm by George R. Stewart

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Some things about California never change.  Water is the essential element in this state, and there is always either too much or not enough.  And sometimes the difference between these two states can be measured in a matter of hours.  Much like our recent storm, this one sprang up mid-Pacific, got shoved down by frigid air from the Canadian prairie, and ended up in northern California, dumping rain through the mid-state and heavy snow in the Sierras, with some rain heading off to southern California, […]

“Things are as they are, and I am part of them.”

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

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There’s something very pleasing about having a book recommended to you and discovering it is one you have read before and really liked. I blame it on the vague title, but this novel, written in 1949 (!), is probably the first “last man on Earth” story and a great read. A normal guy, hiking in the California mountains is bitten by a rattlesnake, and while he recuperates in an isolated cabin, a pandemic kills 99.9 percent of Earth’s population. Ish, the young man, survives the […]



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