Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About octothorp

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I buy books faster than I can read them. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: octothorp's Quick Questions interview.)

octothorp's Reviews:

Yeah, that title about sums it up

Everything is Horrible and Wonderful by Stephanie Wittels Wachs

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Trigger warnings: addiction, adult child loss, grief This was such a hard book to read, even if it was amazing. I lost a cousin to suicide, among a few other episodes of grief, and so much of it hit home. Stephanie Wittels Wachs may not be as well known as her brother Harris, the Parks and Recreation writer / comedian who died of an overdose in 2015, but she’s a hell of a writer. To wit: “Dad’s notes to you feel especially poignant in hindsight. […]

Freakshow Freakonomics

WTF?!: An Economic Tour of the Weird by Peter Leeson

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This is one of a stack of books I was generously given by Econ Dave, the college professor husband of one of the doctors I work for. I’m still not 100% sure whether it’s endearing or annoying that any time we socialize, I end up bending his ear about economics books I’m reading, but given the stack of books he recommended he can’t be that mad about it.  This one looked like the most fun, confirmed when the doctor handed me the pile and said […]

Dear penthouse, I never thought it would happen to me…

Prepare to Die by Paul Tobin

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This book is written like the outline came from a thirteen year old boy but was written by a college student. The actual writing is solid. The plot is interesting enough. But every four pages there’s an implausible sexual situation. It reads like a penthouse letter or a reddit “that happened” post. Our main character has had sex with every single woman in this book with the exception of the lesbian sister of his love interest. And has frank sexual discussions with her sister. And […]

I bet that golden ticket makes the chocolate taste terrible

Switched On by John Elder Robison

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The elevator pitch for this book is “Awakenings for Autism,” but it’s obviously more than that. John Robison is pretty up front about – well, everything because of that aforementioned Autism, but more importantly – becoming the voice of high functioning Autism (previously Asperger’s) by virtue of having written a memoir and without any scientific background in neuroscience. Which isn’t entirely fair, because Look Me In the Eye is an exceptionally well crafted memoir that gives the reader a sense of how Robison thinks, not […]

Steady state

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

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I’m struggling to come up with much to say about this book. I really liked the ending and how Patchett took all the varying characters and plot threads and tied them together in a satisfying way, but the book seemed to take a very long time getting to where it was going. I’m half Brazilian, and have been back to the motherland several times, and this book was pretty much the equivalent of the plane ride there (I’m not one of those who hates air […]

It worked!

Extreme Makeover by Dan Wells

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How many of negative reviews have I started saying “but the cover looked so pretty!” while making reference to the fact that there is an aphorism against making inferences about outward appearances that literally tells you not to judge a book by its cover? I don’t learn well, apparently, as I’m always doing the literary equivalent of picking up shiny objects and putting them in my mouth. (It’s so pretty! The picture doesn’t do the color intensity justice) Yeah. I bought this after seeing someone […]



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