Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About J

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Just a girl, sitting in front of a book, wanting it to be good.

J's Reviews:

Greek gods + The Hunger Games, but so much worse

Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas

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I am in a bit of a slump, and this seemed passably interesting. The cover is pretty and Hoopla tells me it’s popular? Set in the future, which, it must be said, sucks. Titans have emerged (from where?) to murder humanity, prompting Spartans (collective name for Greek Olympians) to reveal themselves after millennia in hiding in order to dispatch them. Spartans—you and I know them as Olympians-have their own internal conflict which forces the losing district (Chthonics) to serve as the Titan death squad. Anyway, […]

I just want to see what the performance reviews look like

The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend by Rob Copeland

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Like the delightful Marie Kondo, I love mess. Especially if it’s someone else’s. Copeland tells the origin story of Ray Dalio, hedge fund phenomenon turned self-help guru. Though an indifferent student in school, Dalio was locked in at his gig as a caddy for the wealthy where he made the connections that led to the establishment of Bridgewater Associates. At first, Dalio obsesses over building a kind of Grand Unified Theory for investing that accounts for the vagaries of geopolitics. Once he has successfully codified […]

Lawns are dead, man

Lawns Into Meadows: Growing a Regenerative Landscape by Owen Wormser

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This short, easy to read volume is a call to arms to put away your lawn mower and embrace a less tidy meadow. Owen Wormser is a landscape designer in the US Northeast, specializing in organic designs for residential and commercial spaces. Mowed lawn space across the US works out to roughly the equivalent of the state of Washington. Lawns were once a status symbol: owning land that didn’t need to be used for food production was a flex. While lawns can be beautiful, they’re […]

Okay, but absinthe in a cupcake? Skeptical.

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker

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On a fictional British baking show with three judges, Sylvie Fairchild works her magic with cake and frosting. At least, until the week one of her fanciful cakes assaults one of the judges, Dominic De Vere, and the two fall madly in love. Sort of. There’s a little bit of story between the beginning and the end. Sylvie and Dominic are not quite enemies. Though their rival bake shops are across the street from one another, they aren’t competing for the same customers. Dominic is […]

Basketball & Life

The Second Season by Emily Adrian

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So much of Ruth Devon’s life has revolved around basketball. After her college ball career ended in injury, she married her coach, and took to the floor as a sideline commentator on games. Sometimes, she’d fill in in the announcing booth. It’s only fitting that she would reach a crossroad in her life during the NBA finals. The Second Season explores how Ruth attempts to juggle her desire to be a “better” mother with her professional ambition. She lives and breathes basketball, and her daughter […]

What’s the opposite of taking it easy? This book is that.

The Art of Taking It Easy by Dr. Brian King

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Dr. Brian King, academic psychologist and aspiring comedian, shares his thoughts on how to live a life with less stress. Overdrive selected this one as their Big Read for the spring. I’m going through a fairly stressful season in my own life, and hoped this would have a takeaway or two that I could use. Y’all. It has been a while since I’ve quit a book so completely fully as I did with this one. How does a book about reducing stress result in a […]



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