Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Instagram
  3. Follow us on Bluesky
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • Getting Started in CBR17
    • Rules of Respect
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
    • About Cannonball Read
  • Our Team
    • The CBR Team
    • Leaderboard
    • Recent Comments
    • Participant Interviews
    • Cannonballer Location Maps
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
    • Star Ratings
    • Featured Review Archive
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • Donate
    • CBR Merchandise
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Suggest a Review
    • 2025 Registration
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Social Media

About andtheIToldYouSos

CBR11 participant
CBR12 participant
CBR13 participant
CBR14 Participant
CBR14 Bingo Badges

Bookseller by day, book reader by night...and hopefully a reviewer somewhere in between. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: andtheIToldYouSos's Quick Questions interview.)

andtheIToldYouSos's Reviews:

A Composition of Decomposition

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: & Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

February 10, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Last time you, me, and the other Caitlin who spells her name correctly met up, I was asking about what you wanted to happen to your body when you died. Remember?  A good time was had by all. This time I am not going to ask what you want to happen, because while Smoke Gets in Your Eyes does talk about what one can choose for their post-mortem adventures, it also gives a breakdown (cymbal crash) of what happens to a human body when it stops being […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #memoir, Ask a Mortician, Caitlin Doughty, california, cremation, Death, decomposition, dying, From Here to Eternity, Funeral home, funeral industry, humor, order of the good death, science

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:15 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction · Tags: #memoir, Ask a Mortician, Caitlin Doughty, california, cremation, Death, decomposition, dying, From Here to Eternity, Funeral home, funeral industry, humor, order of the good death, science ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“Jesus Christ went by the name Jesus and was only called “Geez” by his closest friends.”

A Load of Hooey by Bob Odenkirk

February 10, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

HEY! DO YOU LIKE TO BE SHOUTED AT BY BOB ODENKIRK AND HIS FRIENDS? BECAUSE BOY HOWDY, DO I HAVE THE BOOK FOR YOU! Bob Odenkirk is one of the greatest shouters of all time. No one can bellow DAMN IT quite like him- a skill he’s been sharing with us for 30 years. When he isn’t the one yelling, he is busy writing shouts upon shouts. He is responsible for Chris Farley’s Matt Foley- you know, they guy in a VAN down by the […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Comedy/Humor, Fiction Tagged With: alt comedy, Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, fast read, irreverent, Jerry Minor, McSweeney's, Megan Amram, Mr. Show. With Bob and David, Paul F. Tompkins, scott c., short fiction, Tony Millionaire

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:14 · Genres: Audiobooks, Comedy/Humor, Fiction · Tags: alt comedy, Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, fast read, irreverent, Jerry Minor, McSweeney's, Megan Amram, Mr. Show. With Bob and David, Paul F. Tompkins, scott c., short fiction, Tony Millionaire ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

“The only love that feels like love is the doomed kind. (Fun fact.)”

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill

February 8, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Ooof. This book is slight, but it packs a wallop. I felt like I was reading through someone’s diary. It was as if the diary was left open with a READ ME sign glowing in neon above, but it was still so personal that I had to keep sneaking furtive glances over my shoulder to make sure that the diary’s owner wouldn’t walk in to find me poring over her every thought and feeling. When our narrator “I secretly hope that I might be a […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: creative life, entropy, Fiction, Jenny Offill, Marriage, Motherhood, Quick read, short fiction, vignette

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:13 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: creative life, entropy, Fiction, Jenny Offill, Marriage, Motherhood, Quick read, short fiction, vignette ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“A Table of Alphabetical Hard Words”: Our First English Dictionary

The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson

February 7, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Quite a bit has changed since this book was written; language has changed, attitudes towards language have changed, and culture overall has changed. Some pieces from this book have not aged well; it’s rather dismissive of some languages and cultures (weirdly judgmental over Japanese writing, for example) while being aggressively defensive of others. There is also little-to-no attention paid  to the many additions given to English by marginalized communities; I was surprised to come across very little about the contributions of people of color have […]

Filed Under: History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #history, Anthropology, Bill Bryson, dialect, English, idioms, language, linguistics

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:12 · Genres: History, Non-Fiction · Tags: #history, Anthropology, Bill Bryson, dialect, English, idioms, language, linguistics ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

fun fact: name dropping Joan Didion no less than 45 times in your 270 page book does not make you Joan Didion

Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolin

February 1, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

You know that dream where you realize that you have been in assigned to a class for an entire semester, but you have never once attended the class? You “wake up” on the day that your final is due and panic, then cobble together whatever previous assignments that you have scattered about that might be able to pass for whatever you were supposed to do in that class? I am fairly sure that’s what happened to Alice Bolin when she woke up one day, book […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction Tagged With: Alice Bolin, celebrity, essays, Joan Didion, los angeles, mental illness, Pop Culture, pop feminism, prime time TV, serial killers, true crime

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:11 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction · Tags: Alice Bolin, celebrity, essays, Joan Didion, los angeles, mental illness, Pop Culture, pop feminism, prime time TV, serial killers, true crime ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

American Ghost Stories

Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins

January 28, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Claire Vaye Watkins has an infamous father. I don’t point this out in a salacious “looky here” way, but this father looms large over the first story in this collection. Her father is Tex Watson, yes, that Tex Watson. Murderer. Manson Family member. Currently and indefinitely imprisoned Tex Watson who married a prison pen pal and fathered four children while in jail. Claire wrests the reins from her father, her family, and her history to tell her own story- and it’s a doozy. All of […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Short Stories, Western Tagged With: American West, claire vaye watkins, curses, ghosts, Gold, Las Vegas, Longing, manson, Nevada, Reno, silver, Spahn Ranch, Tex Watkins

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:10 · Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Western · Tags: American West, claire vaye watkins, curses, ghosts, Gold, Las Vegas, Longing, manson, Nevada, Reno, silver, Spahn Ranch, Tex Watkins ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • …
  • 41
  • Next Page »


Recent Comments

  • Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
  • Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
  • Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
  • Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
  • Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.
See More Recent Comments »

Support Our Mission

  • Support Our Mission: Donate Today!
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo

The reviews and comments posted on this site reflect the opinions of individual posters and do not reflect the views of Cannonball Read.

© 2025 Cannonball Read Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) | Log in