Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Good news / bad news

The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony snicket

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Downside? You get another Series of Unfortunate Events review, which I am tired of writing because my complaints never change (the reviews are pretty much as repetitive as the books) and I struggle to find new ways of saying “condescending, but pretentiously so” without sounding like I just read a thesaurus (but am pretending is my normal speech pattern) like Handler. Upside? I bough all these books together, and I’m not gonna read any more, so this is the last of my SoUE reviews I’ll […]

Fitting category (CBR12Bingo 2: Repeat – Money)

The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket

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You guys, even I’m getting tired of my Series of Unfortunate Events reviews. I don’t think there’s too much left to say about the books as they are very much all of a kind, and unlike the wonderful, authorless Harry Potter books, they don’t increase in complexity or thematic depth with their readers. It’s the same damn book over again: Baudelaire orphans meet their new home and a new variety of inept adult, find Count Olaf behind a disguise along with one or more of […]

I’m waiting for the Baudelaires to meet the One Trick Pony (CBR12Bingo 2: No Money)

The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket

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Ya’ll, I’m kind of glad this was my “No Money” square because I think I’d be irritated if I spent actual money on this book. Might be my second least favorite of the series, but I found a pile of these at Goodwill for a dollar, and then used loyalty points to get them for free. I had to buy #1 because there were 2-6 present, so of course I’d pay for the one I liked the least. We’re dealing with a pretty predictable pattern […]

I’m honestly curious… (CBR12Bingo 2 – Adaptation)

The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket

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I’ve gone on at length about how I find much of the stylistic elements of the Series of Unfortunate Events books irritating – the interruption of the text to define words in particular – so it seems like the ideal book to adapt. The gothic stylings of the story, sets, and trappings of the Baudelaire orphan stories all are right up my alley, but I don’t like kids being talked down to – children’s books don’t have to explain everything to them once they’re past […]

The root of all evil (CBR12Bingo 2: Money)

The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket

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Well, I liked this book quite a bit more than the first one, but given that it doesn’t revolve around a guardian attempting to marry his barely teenaged ward against her will, anything would be an upgrade. Since Count Olaf has now been unmasked as dastardly, the Baudelaire orphans have been placed with their uncle Monty, a reptile enthusiast with a menagerie of snakes and lizards, including the harmless Incredibly Deadly Viper, named as a joke. Since the placement is happy and Uncle Monty is […]

Condescending, which in this case means talking down to your readers (CBR12Bingo: Fresh Starts)

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

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There’s a lot that I liked about this book, but the author’s affectation of using challenging words relative to the age of his audience (Yay! Do more of that!) and then defining them in a subclause (Boo! Do less of that) ends up undermining what he’s trying to do. I was a precocious reader (is there a CBR participant who wasn’t?) and the only thing I disliked more than a book too simple for my reading level was one that pretended it wasn’t. Calvin and […]



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