AnnaCollier – Page 2 – Cannonball Read 17

A funny and thoughtful view of life from a wheelchair

Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig

November 26, 2021 by AnnaCollier Leave a Comment

Rebekah Taussig’s essay collection Sitting Pretty: The View from my Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body grew out of her Instagram account (also called @sitting_pretty) in which she posts “mini memoirs” in words and photographs, sharing with others her experiences as a woman who uses a wheelchair. The essays cover a lot of ground, including the challenge of finding accessible housing, the stories of Taussig’s two marriages (and experiences with dating in between), her work as a high school English teacher, and memories of growing up in […]

Three reviews for the price of one!

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

May 10, 2021 by AnnaCollier 3 Comments

Who doesn’t love a good boarding school novel? As a fan of both traditional mysteries and boarding school settings, the Truly Devious trilogy (Truly Devious, The Vanishing Stair, and The Hand on the Wall) seemed very nicely targeted toward me as a reader. I’m generally not a big YA reader, but the fit was too good in this case. And as a bonus, the trilogy is complete, so no pesky waiting between books! Book 1 (Truly Devious) begins with Stephanie “Stevie” Bell arriving at the […]

Get out of your own head and into a soul band

The Commitments by Roddy Doyle

April 21, 2021 by AnnaCollier Leave a Comment

I don’t know to what extent this is a universal experience, but to me the last hour of a road trip always feels super long. It doesn’t matter if I’ve driven 200 miles or 600 miles, that last hour just draaags. In the US, it feels like we’re in the metaphorical last hour of the COVID shutdowns. More than half of adults have gotten at least one vaccine dose (yay!), including me (YAY!), but it will probably be another couple of months before things really […]

The Ant and the Grasshopper Can Be Friends

Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett

March 27, 2021 by AnnaCollier 1 Comment

I was inspired to pick up Ann Patchett’s memoir Truth and Beauty: A Friendship after reading her essay These Precious Days, which was recently published in Harper’s magazine. The two works run in parallel, both telling the stories of Patchett’s friendship with someone whose life is arguably more interesting (and certainly more dramatic), who is sick, and who Patchett helps through that illness. Truth and Beauty follows the friendship between Patchett and the writer Lucy Grealy for nearly twenty years. They attend the same college […]

I Just Wanted a Nice Soothing Book about Murder

The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth

December 26, 2020 by AnnaCollier 6 Comments

Like many people, this year I’ve been more than usually interested in books that are comforting, but of course what feels comforting is different for different people – along with Jane Austen and Barbara Pym, for me one of the most soothing types of book are murder mysteries. I like the predictable structure, the ultimate triumphing of good over evil (all too rare in real life), and seeing the ways that different authors stretch and interpret the standard ideas of the genre. Unfortunately for me, […]

Ask A Manager (And some questions you might not even know to ask)

Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work by Allison Green

December 23, 2020 by AnnaCollier 3 Comments

Allison Green is best known as the author of the popular career advice website Ask A Manager. The online column has a lot of basic practical advice about how to find a job, keep a job, manage people, and deal with workplace conflicts. There are also lots of stories about workplace drama, including colleagues who steal your lunch and bosses who tape employee’s mouths shut during meetings if they don’t like the ideas being shared. Unsurprisingly, she’s decided to turn some of the lessons she […]

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.

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