Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Short story review dump (Part III)

Mono no aware by Ken Liu

The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu

The Hofzinser Club by Michael Chabon

The Baboon War by Nnedi Okorafor

Childfinder by Octavia E. Butler

The Five-Forty-Eight by John Cheever

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Mono no Aware by Ken Liu (5 stars) Mono no aware is a Japanese phrase meaning “the pathos of things”. It’s the bittersweet feeling of sadness at the impermanence of things, a careful blend of appreciation and sadness that nothing can last forever. It’s the phrase I didn’t know that I needed in my life – but I think I do, because I experience it fairly often. I think it’s one of the reasons I love Haruki Murakami’s work so much. There is a delicate […]

Parable of the Sower-Graphic Novel

Parable of the Sower by Damien Duffy

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Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review. So the thing is this is my least favorite of Butler’s works. The story had a lot of plot holes that the graphic novel of course cannot and does not fix. Taking place in 2025, we follow the character of Lauren Olamina and her family that are living in what remains of areas around Los Angeles. Told in the first person, we get Lauren’s “insights” into her family, […]

A gripping time-travel slave narrative

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

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Kindred was our June Cannonball Read book club selection. I decided to read both the original novel by Octavia E. Butler and graphic novel adaptation by John Jennings and Damian Duffy. Both works focus on Dana, a young writer living in 1970s northern Los Angeles (much like Butler herself). She is recently married and moving into her new home with her older white husband, Kevin. They seem quite in love and happy. Dana is unpacking some books when suddenly and inexplicably she travels through time […]

Second time reading, second time not adequately expressing feelings in review.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

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I would like to lodge a protest at the start of this review against the practice of writing reviews for books that you have too much to say about. (Often too much to say leads to having nothing to say.) I had a really hard time writing a review for this excellent book the first time I read it. I did an all right job three years ago conveying some of my feelings, but mostly I have so many thoughts and feelings about this book […]

35: A beautifully depicted dystopia with religious leanings

The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

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I have the book club pick coming up in July, and I decided to read something that had been on my TBR for a while. So I went with Octavia E. Butler’s The Parable of the Sower. I had read Kindred last year and really liked it, plus I was intrigued by the dystopian aspects of Parable. So it was to my delight and surprise that I found myself really connecting with this novel and pondering many aspects of it. Lauren Olamina is our protagonist, […]

Book Club Discussion Post: Kindred

Kindred by Octavia Butler

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The time has arrived (and no limbs were lost in the process); we’re going to spend the next two days talking about Kindred. It’s our “most popular” category Anniversary Read so I’m very interested to hear how you feel this book rates in your all-time Cannonball list. Ground rules remain the same as they always have. For those of you who might be joining in for #CannonBookClub for the first time (hello new friends!) all are welcome. All of our topics are numbered and we […]



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