Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Some novellas as a little treat

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher

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CBR Bingo: Repair – In Automatic Noodle, the characters not only literally work to repair themselves and each other because they are robots who need repair after a few months of being shut down, but they also work to repair the reputation of their restaurant so they can grow it into a thriving establishment. CBR Bingo: Refuge – In Nine Goblins, Sings-To-Trees has created a refuge where magical and non-magical creatures alike can come for help. Automatic Noodle Automatic Noodle takes places in the not-too-distant […]

Comforting message but … (it’s definitely me, not you, novellas)

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

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These were rereads for me but I likely wouldn’t have chosen to revisit this world if they hadn’t been the selection for the Buffering podcast’s book club for April. I like Becky Chambers but prefer her Wayfarers series, and I enjoyed these novellas the first time round, though i preferred the first to the second novella. This time, I read them in one weekend so it’s a bit harder to treat or view them as separate entities. These novellas are perfectly lovely, taking place in […]

Three sci-fi books making me think about robots and AI

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Rose/House by Arkady Martine

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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The end of January to the very beginning of March has had the good fortune to have three excellent books looking at robots, AI, sentience, autonomy, finding meaning, and limitations on the flawed way humanity has programmed robots/AI.  While setting up this post, I just realized all the author’s first name start with A.  Huh, kind of interesting. First up was a novella by Annalee Newitz, Automatic Noodle.  This is the most fun and lighthearted of the bunch.  It is the year 2064, a few years […]

Robot Rizz

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

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When reading this book you will need to make sure you have immediate access to some incredibly delicious noodles because you will be awakening a vicious craving. A small group of robots unexpectedly reboot themselves in an abandoned ghost kitchen in post-war San Francisco. They were unexpectedly shut down before being left behind but due to an unexpected weather emergency they’re back online. After dealing with the immediate crisis the four bots- Staybehind, Sweetie, Cayenne, and Hands- are at a loss for what their next […]

Ricky and his pal Robot

Ricky Ricotta V01 Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot by Dav Pilkey and Dan Santat

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I need two ratings for the book, Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot. One rating for me and one for the readers it is aimed at. My rating is a 2 as I did not care for things. There was nothing that was “exciting” to me personally. The illustrations were the bright spot as they are bold and well colored, but not overly detailed so they do not distract from the story but support it. However, if I was recommending to younger readers (as young as five […]

The Last Samurai

Yojimbot Volume 1: Metal Silence by Sylvain Repos and Noiry

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Yojimbot Volume 1: Metal Silence by Sylvain Repos and Noiry There is something about this book I liked a lot. There wasn’t a new theme, but the way it was presented really captured me. We start “at the end” of things, or we don’t know why we are finding ourselves in a rundown, abandoned park that not-so-nice (to say the very least) military and/or government scientists inhabit. The artwork is clever, but I’ve seen it before, yet I really was into it. There is a […]



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