Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.'”

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut

February 8, 2022 by narfna 5 Comments

I did not expect to love this book so much, but it really hit me pretty hard. I liked Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut just fine, it was fun, and I really liked Slaughterhouse-Five, but I didn’t connect to it emotionally like I did God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Near the beginning of the book, there’s a moment when Eliot Rosewater is thinking about Vonnegut’s stand-in writer character, Kilgore Trout, who is Eliot’s favorite author (see quote below, which also applies to sci-fi and fantasy […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: anti-capitalist, anti-war, black comedy, Fiction, god bless you mr rosewater, kurt vonnegut, lit-fic, literary fiction, narfna, Satire

narfna's CBR14 Review No:23 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: anti-capitalist, anti-war, black comedy, Fiction, god bless you mr rosewater, kurt vonnegut, lit-fic, literary fiction, narfna, Satire ·
Rating:
· 5 Comments

“I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell.”

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

December 29, 2021 by narfna Leave a Comment

Been putting off this review because this book is too smart for me. Or, actually, all the characters and maybe the author want to be smarter than me. I am pretty smart! I just have different priorities than everyone in this book. I don’t know about Donna Tartt, it could go either way with her. I still haven’t decided if she secretly empathizes with all these assholes she birthed from her mind, or if she’s skewering people and ideas and places instead. Either, way, this […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: dark academia, Donna Tartt, lit-fic, literary fiction, narfna, the secret history

narfna's CBR13 Review No:201 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: dark academia, Donna Tartt, lit-fic, literary fiction, narfna, the secret history ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“Suddenly revenge is so close he can actually taste it. It tastes like steak, rare.”

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

December 29, 2021 by narfna 2 Comments

I actually really enjoyed this retelling of The Tempest*, particularly since I had just re-read the play as a refresher, so it was a lot easier to catch all the references and parallels. This is actually only my third Margaret Atwood book, which feels weird, since she is everywhere, and also because I’ve read The Handmaid’s Tale three times. About time I branched out! (I’m sorry, Malin, I still haven’t read The Blind Assassin, which is a book I know you love.) *Thanks to andtheIToldYouSos […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: andtheIToldYouSos, Book Exchange, Book Exchange 2020, Hag-Seed, lit-fic, literary, literary fiction, Margaret Atwood, narfna, retellings, The Tempest

narfna's CBR13 Review No:199 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: andtheIToldYouSos, Book Exchange, Book Exchange 2020, Hag-Seed, lit-fic, literary, literary fiction, Margaret Atwood, narfna, retellings, The Tempest ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

“You asked me questions nobody ever asked me before. You knew that I was a murderer two times over, but you treated me like a man.”

Native Son by Richard Wright

December 23, 2021 by narfna Leave a Comment

My brain is mush today, but I have time to try and catch up on reviews, so I’m going to attempt to review a masterpiece of literature while coasting on an ebb tide of intelligence. This is, I believe, the book I have owned the longest without reading. I’ve moved ten times since I bought it in college for a class that didn’t even end up reading it. I have kept it all this time, through lo so many book purges, because I always meant […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: classics, lit-fic, literary, literary fiction, narfna, native son, richard wright

narfna's CBR13 Review No:193 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: classics, lit-fic, literary, literary fiction, narfna, native son, richard wright ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Blackout. The Whale has eaten me. I repeat the Whale has eaten me and I am now dead. #CBRBINGO – White Whale

Possession by A.S. Byatt

October 31, 2021 by narfna 17 Comments

This review will not be long, for this book has defeated me, and in such a way that I don’t overly feel like enumerating what went wrong here. The short answer is most likely that I’m just not the right reader for this book (and this author, which is why I’ve deleted The Children’s Book from my TBR). I bought this ages ago, probably over a decade, and finally gave it a try about six years ago. I got 48 pages in before I said I’d […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: A.S. Byatt, cbr13bingo, Fiction, historical fiction, lit-fic, literary, literary fiction, narfna, possession, white whale

narfna's CBR13 Review No:168 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: A.S. Byatt, cbr13bingo, Fiction, historical fiction, lit-fic, literary, literary fiction, narfna, possession, white whale ·
Rating:
· 17 Comments

My love for the beautiful cover did not translate to love, or even like, of the book.

The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.

June 23, 2021 by narfna 2 Comments

I AM NOT ALLOWED TO GET LIT-FIC FROM BOOK OF THE MONTH ANYMORE*. I am completely unable to judge this book on it own merits because I was so unenthused while reading it, and the style really put me off. People are absolutely shitting themselves over this one, and it sounded so interesting to me, I’m upset I didn’t get anything out of it. *Except, this one time they had The Vanishing Half? And I loved that book. Maybe I will just make my rule […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: book of the month, historical fiction, Jr., LGBTQIA, lit-fic, literary, literary fiction, Robert Jones, Robert Jones, Jr., the prophets

narfna's CBR13 Review No:68 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: book of the month, historical fiction, Jr., LGBTQIA, lit-fic, literary, literary fiction, Robert Jones, Robert Jones, Jr., the prophets ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments
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