Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Call me A Reader. Some hours ago–never mind how long precisely–having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me…. I read a book…

Call Me Moby by Lars Kenseth

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Retellings are not new, but the way Call Me Moby by Lars Kenseth is presented and the “wink wink” towards the original Herman Melville story, Moby Dick, makes it fresh. And this obvious homage will be a hoot for adults. And, of course, young readers will find Moby’s actions relatable and amusing. The illustrations are sweet and having the simplicity of certain ones in the right places allows for the punch of the more detailed ones to be stronger. I would have liked to have […]

Two if by Sea: Two Reviews, One Recommendation

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick

The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of the HMS Bounty by Sir John Barrow

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Ahoy, mateys! I bring you two tales of adventure from the sea. I’ve had In the Heart of the Sea on my list for quite awhile due to its Moby Dick connection, and I decided to follow that up with another classic true tale: The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of the HMS Bounty. Was I pushing my luck by reading two non-fiction seafaring adventures in a row? Perhaps. In the Heart of the Sea By the time Moby Dick was published […]

A road trip with a difference

Becoming Dinah by Kit de Waal

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Seventeen-year old Dinah has spent almost all her life on a religious commune somewhere in Northumberland (in northern England), being educated at home with the other children. Only recently has she gone to a ‘proper’ school, and her feelings of culture shock and confusion are convincingly drawn. When we first meet her, something awful has happened (which de Waal delays telling us about), and Dinah is taking advantage of her mother’s absence on a Women’s Retreat to reinvent herself as ‘Ishmael’, cutting off her long […]

Snubbed and Bingo #3!

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 cbr10bingo Snubbed Christophe Chaboute’s graphic novel adaptation of Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick was nominated for a 2018 Eisner Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium. It lost to Damien Duffy and John Jennings’ adaptation of Octavia Butler’s Kindred. I’ve never had a great desire to conquer Moby Dick. It was never assigned in any of my high school or university literature classes, and frankly, the story of a crazy old sea captain trying to exact revenge on a white whale sounded weird. And then there’s […]

The implacable horror of isolation

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There are books that speak to you. Books that reach down into the core of your inner being to play the delicate chords of your heart strings. Books that stay with you, becoming a passenger for life, indelibly connecting you to a particular place and time, like some kind of existential anchor of permanence in a sea of change. Moby Dick is one such book, for me. That book haunts me. It’s the girl I had a crush on in high school but was too afraid […]

I want to go back and read this again for the first time.

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So, I think I found a new favorite writer. The kind of writer that necessitates my active engagement whenever a new book is published. I mean, look, this book didn’t fundamentally rewire my brain. I’m not re-invigorated, or inspired to change my life. This isn’t like when I read Moby Dick last year. But this book was good. And John Dies at the End was just the right blend of chaotically eccentric and delightfully whimsical. And Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits was charming, and fun, […]



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