Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Short story struggles are worth it

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

Even Greater Mistakes by Charlie Jane Anders

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I am very bad at reading short story collections. Something in me says that if it’s in one volume, then it’s one story. So when the chapters don’t go together, I get confused even though I know they are independent stories and not actually chapters. But I like short stories, so I get through them by reading at least a few books between the stories. I got through two collections this year. In the preface to The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Ken Liu says, […]

A love letter to Arthurian legend told through inclusive re-imaginings

Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices by Edited by: Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington

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Thank you, llamareadsbooks for gifting this book to me in the CBR Book Exchange! CBR14 Bingo: “Time” – This anthology moves through time, from the ancient past to the far future. Sword Stone Table first came to my awareness through emmalita’s review.  When narfna reviewed it a few weeks ago, it prompted me to move it to the top of the read pile.  I have a deep affection for stories about King Arthur and Camelot that probably started with the Disney animated version, was strengthened by […]

There was a game he could see and another he couldn’t, and he would play them both.

Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington

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My formative King Arthur works were the 1963 Disney movie The Sword in the Stone, and 1975’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When I discovered Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave, as a preteen, my life as a reader of fantasy and romance was set. I’m a King Arthur enthusiast, but not a purist (except for Antoine Fuqua’s 2004 King Arthur – great cast, beautiful visuals, terrible movie that should never have been marketed as “historically accurate”). Hearing that a work is a retelling of […]

Assorted Short Fiction I

Nimona (audiobook) by Noelle Stevenson

The Armies of those I Love by Ken Liu

Fashionably Undead by Meg Cabot

Miscellaneous 0125 by Berri George

Zeta Family by Gretchen Enders

Temporary by Hilary Leichter

The Fool Who Thought too Much by Ishmael Reed

Bedtime Stories for Cynics by Various

Escape from Virtual Island by Jon Lutz

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Nimona – 5/5 Stars I really do love this book a lot. It’s so full of charm and joy and fun. It FEELS whimsical at times, and I generally do like whimsy, but it’s a much more tightly controlled and structured narrative than whimsy would suggest. I have owned three copies of this book and have had three copies get “borrowed” by students and never returned. I feel like everyone knows what the book is, but a quick recap. We are in a far-off magical […]

into the woods to see the troll, to meet the boy, to sell the girl, to trick the teens, to catch the murderer, to erase the memories, to exact revenge…

The Prince and the Troll by Rainbow Rowell

Hazel and Gray by Nic Stone

The Princess Game by Soman Chainani

The Cleaners by Ken Liu

The Wickeds by Gayle Forman

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Back at it again with another Amazon Original Series! My brain is totally fried with year-end nonsense, but this series has given me nice little breaks while going about my day-to-day chores and adventures. I didn’t need any convincing to give this collection a “go”; I love a good fairytale retell or folklore restructure- no one will ever come close to Angela Carter, but I certainly won’t leave them out in the cold! The Prince and the Troll 3/5 I know that YOU know this, but […]

The Paper Menagerie & Other Stories by Ken Liu

All the Flavors by Ken Liu

The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary by Ken Liu

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Always on the lookout for speculative short fiction, I came across Ken Liu on an internet list somewhere. The little bio said he’d won the Hugo and the Nebula for his short stories and translations, and as I’m ashamed to say I’ve read very little by Chinese-American authors, I immediately ran to the library. They had his short story collection, The Paper Menagerie & Other Stories, and even though I knew he was award winning, I was not prepared for just how life-changing this collection would […]

https://cannonballread.com/2020/12/the-paper-menagerie-other-stories-and-all-the-flavors-and-the-man-who-ended-history-a-documentary-ale/



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