Caitlin_D – Page 15 – Cannonball Read 17

“She did not like being a public person. She was happiest in her garden, at her country home.”

Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend by Meryl Gordon

January 10, 2019 by Caitlin_D 1 Comment

Bunny Mellon is one of the most interesting people in history that you have probably never heard about. Mrs. Mellon came onto my radar after I read Frank Langella’s subpar memoir during Cannonball 9 and the several Kennedy biographies I’ve read over the years but Meryl Gordon’s exhaustive biography was so much more interesting than I could have imagined. Bunny wanted to exert control over her environment yet give the illusion that everything was effortless. Her favorite saying was: “Nothing should be noticed.” Rachel “Bunny” […]

“My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs.”

Educated by Tara Westover

January 6, 2019 by Caitlin_D 1 Comment

Educated is a force of nature. There is very little I can say here that hasn’t been said already, and probably more eloquently, but Tara Westover’s memoir about growing up the daughter of Mormon survivalists in Idaho was one of the best books I read in 2019. Oh, it is only January 6th? Nah, I stand by it. Educated felt like a combination between The Glass Castle and Beyond Belief while still remaining in a class all its own. “It happens sometimes in families: one child who doesn’t fit, […]

“[We’ll] never know how much of this book the squirrel wrote.”—Mindy Kaling

My Squirrel Days by Ellie Kemper

January 6, 2019 by Caitlin_D 3 Comments

I received My Squirrel Days from the lovely emmalita during our Cannonball gift exchange. I was very excited because my library did not have Kimmy Schmidt’s Ellie Kemper’s memoir available to borrow and I must read all memoirs written by people with more than 50,000 Twitter followers (edit: apparently Ellie doesn’t have a Twitter but she has 546k Instagram followers so the sentiment is the same). There comes a time in every sitcom actress’s life when she is faced with the prospect of writing a […]

“We’re more than the sum total of our choices, that all the paths we might have taken factor somehow into the math of our identity.”

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

January 6, 2019 by Caitlin_D Leave a Comment

Happy New Year Cannonballers! Last year, despite achieving my goal of 120 books read and reviewed, I read about 20 books less than during Cannonball 9 which I attribute to spending a lot of time on books I either didn’t finish (Between the Bridge and the River) or spent more time than was necessary sloughing through (Map of Days). My goal this year, besides a humble Double Cannonball, is to allow myself to make quicker decisions regarding books I don’t want to finish. Luckily, I […]

“Life is more complicated than that, there are endless shades of gray that comprise a human being.”

Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown

December 30, 2018 by Caitlin_D 1 Comment

My fifth year as a Cannonballer comes to a close with Janelle Brown’s Watch Me Disappear which centers on Jonathan Flannigan and his daughter, Olive, as they approach the first anniversary of the disappearance and presumed death of matriarch Billie Flannigan. As Jonathan struggles to make ends meet without the second income of his wife and the delay in the insurance payout because Billie’s body was never recovered Olive begins to have visions that her mother is still alive and wanting to be found. I […]

“When I was born, the word for what I was did not exist.”

Circe by Madeline Miller

December 30, 2018 by Caitlin_D Leave a Comment

Circe has been topping a lot of people’s Best Of books this year and for good reason. It is a well written, interesting take on several well known Greek myths but doesn’t require an extensive knowledge of Greek mythology to enjoy (although Madeline Miller is obviously a Greek mythology fan girl). Nymph-turned-witch Circe is the daughter of Helios; she is never meant to rule kingdoms because while she is immortal she is not a God. She finds happiness being a nanny to her siblings but […]

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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