Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Interesting ideas but needed more space to grow

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

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Binti is a novella starting a series about a young woman leaving her home in Africa to travel to a distant world – Oomza University. She is the first of her people – the Himba – to leave their homelands but she is an incredibly gifted harmoniser who even as a teenager is capable of building complex instruments called astrolabes. Basically she is gifted at the complex and advanced mathematics that are used to propel this future society. The book introduces intriguing concepts such as living ships who grow complex internal chambers and slough off their carapace as they descend […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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7/18/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:11 |

There’s a strange feeling I experience before I can go into the ocean.

Broken Place and Outer Spaces by Nnedi Okorafor

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This is a long memoir essay or short memoir written by Nnedi Okorafor author of several sci fi and fantasy novels, of which I’ve only read the Binti trilogy. This book is published by TED books and the audiobook which came out this week is narrated by Okorafor, and given the subject matter and length of the book is perfect. I don’t know or didn’t know much about Okorafor before this, but did enjoy the Binti books. One of the primary focuses of this book is her long-term recovering and rehabilitation from significant spinal injuries, the recuperation of that energy, […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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6/20/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:358 |

Angry Space Jellyfish

Binti by nnedi Okorafor

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I hated the first thing I got from a list of must-read sci-fi/fantasy series; I was not optimistic about the second. Thankfully, this one turned out well. The only problem? Binti is actually a novella, and way too short. I somehow ended up with a copy of the first novella, not the series of three bound together. The premise reminds me in some ways of Black Panther. Binti is a Shuri-like math prodigy from an isolated culture who sticks largely to old ways of living and belief, while at the same time “obsessed with innovation and technology”. Binti is so […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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4/6/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:21 |

Drop-kick That Magic Lamp into Mount Doom

The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin (editors)

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Short story collections are like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates: you have to gnaw some nuts and chews to eventually find that chocolate truffle. That said, The Djinn Falls in Love is phenomenal. Six of the twenty-one stories are among the best short stories I have read. Ever. (Jhumpa Lahiri, I’m sorry to report that you’ve been bumped.)  The editors’s international ensemble of authors clearly did their research, populating their confident tales with every manner of djinn, jinn, and genie. Some lie in wait in an unexpected vessel; some walk around passing for human; others get a kick out of […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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1/17/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:4 |

Good, but wants more meat…

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

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Binti is a mathematical prodigy – a Harmonizer – from a tribe, the Himba, that reveres its homeland so much that they don’t really leave their land, let alone the planet. But Binti wants to attend Oomza Uni, and as said Uni as actually a planet in itself, to do so she’s going to have to bid goodbye to not just her family, but her homeland too. Which she does, sneaking out in the middle of the night. Binti soon finds herself on the ship to Oomza, amidst her classmates but still viewed as something as an outsider – the […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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1/14/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:4 |

Not flawless, but Binti and Katniss could totally hang

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

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Usually when I review a book that’s already been covered on CBR multiple times, I try not to read anybody else’s reviews until mine is written. This time, however, I read everything the search function could find for me. I remembered from headlines that some people loved this Hugo/Nebula-winning book, and some people did not. I listened to the audio version on my way to Thanksgiving, and enjoyed it, so was curious what others thought. I think the audio version may have helped, having Binti talk to me while I was on the road. I liked her very much, and […]

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12/5/2018 's CBR10 Review No:24 |

Better than the Potter comparison

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

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I read this book because I started following Dr. Okorafor on Twitter a few years ago.  I don’t remember exactly what made me decide to follow her but I do know that part of it was due to my desire to avoid insularity.  That and I’d heard great things about her books.  I’ve already read the first two novellas in her Binti series; the third won a Hugo Award this year! Akata Witch, if I were to grossly over simplify, is a different take on the young person discovers magic is real and they must adapt to this new world. […]

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11/24/2018 's CBR10 Review No:41 |

The power of good-bye

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

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CBR10Bingo: Brain Candy (BINGO!) Before this year, I wasn’t much of a YA reader. I saw myself as more of a Serious Reader, too serious for the frivolity of YA lit. And while my favorite books are still likely to be denser and heavier literary fiction and hard sci-fi, I’ve come to enjoy the balance that YA brings to my library with the quicker read and lighter tone even when the subject matter isn’t so light. Thus, the Brain Candy square was always going to be a YA book. It was just a matter of picking one.  Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata […]

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10/28/2018 's CBR10 Review No:58 |


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