Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Caitlin_D

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I skipped CBR for 2020 because I was expecting my first child and knew time would be finite. Then the world imploded and I missed the crap out of y'all. Plus I read so much less without y'all's recommendations! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Caitlin_D's Quick Questions interview.)

Caitlin_D's Reviews:

“Do we settle for the world as it is, or do we work for the world as it should be?”

Becoming by Michelle Obama

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I am probably the last person to review Michelle Obama’s near perfect memoir, Becoming, but being late to the party is better than missing it entirely. I achingly miss the Obamas and spending this time with Michelle was something of a salve. I took longer than I needed to to read this one because I didn’t want it to end. Michelle Robinson had a happy childhood in Chicago. She adored her older brother, Craig, and is still very close to him. She learned a lot from […]

“I have an increasingly powerful need for books, which throw a glimmer of light into my darkness.”

The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir by Maude Julien

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Maude Julien was born for a purpose. Her father, Monsieur Didier, hand selected Maude’s mother, Jeannine, when she was a child; he took her away from her parents (with their permission) and sent her to the best boarding schools.  When the time was right and Jeannine was fully indoctrinated in Didier’s beliefs he had her deliver him a daughter as blonde as she was. When Maude was three her wealthy father liquidated his assets and move his family of three to an isolated mansion in […]

Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Catholic edition

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry

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Heretics Anonymous is billed as The Breakfast Club meets Saved! but that is giving it too much credit. That isn’t to say Heretics is disappointing, I enjoyed it immensely, but it is a pretty straightforward YA novel. There is your standard love story, although our heroine longing to be a Catholic priest when she grows up is a bit of a twist, and the well worn struggle of a son who doesn’t get along with his mostly absent father. Michael’s family has moved for the fourth time in ten years. […]

American Heiress

The Glitter and the Gold by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan

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Consuelo Vanderbilt was born into American royalty before being sent away to England at nineteen to marry a British duke against her wishes. The Glitter and the Gold is her story written in her own words as an elderly woman in the 1950s but at times the language feels very modern. She references how easy today’s (1952) children have it and that she is from one of the last generations to be raised with such strictness. Her mother used to discipline her with a switch and […]

I like to be in America! O.K. by me in America! Everything free in America!For a small fee in America!

American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures by Edited by America Ferrera

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We live as citizens of a country that does not always claim us or even see us, and yet, we continue to build, to create, and to compel it toward its own promise. This was an outstanding collection of essays written by public figures who are immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants. American Like Me gives them the space to discuss their unique upbringings as well as highlight how they’re no less American than someone who can trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower. The […]

Like watching a documentary with your eyes closed

Harry Potter: A History of Magic by The British Library, JK Rowling

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I listened to the Natalie Dormer narrated audiobook of A History of Magic and it was both the perfect way to enjoy the expansive magical world as well as the most frustrating way. The British Library should really film this for an HBO or History Channel documentary series. Natalie Dormer was a fantastic narrator; her role was primarily as the host of the book who introduced sections read by contributors and interviewees. It was a fantastic way to delve into the wonderful world of Harry Potter again, […]



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