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:

Good Feeling Gone

The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy

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Well, in much the same way I wanted to start the In Shock review on a positive note, I’ll start with the good.  This is beautifully written. Levy is an engaging writer, and I want to read a book about fluffy bunnies and lollipops by her. This is not that book. I may need an adult. This was like Dr. Rana Awdish’s book, but without the medical degree that gave her tragedy the ability to inform others’ care in addition to the benefit of sharing […]

My favorite potter on reread

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

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I think this was the book in the series I had the hardest time putting down the second time through.  After Harry Potter and the Whiny Depression that was Order of the Phoenix, this felt like a return to form.  We have the adventurous Harry from the earlier books back, with the adult stakes that rise with each series entry. The central mystery – who is the Half Blood Prince – managed to be just as exciting the second time around, even if I remembered […]

Good Omens meets NPR

Miracle Workers by Simon Rich

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You guys, you guys! Read this book! Read all of Simon Rich’s books, but read this one first.  I hadn’t known until finishing this one that he wrote for the Simpsons, but it made sense. This is witty without being highbrow, fun without being lowbrow. I read it in one sitting (or as close to one sitting as I get these days, I read it in two kraken naps in a 24 hour period so I’m calling it.) It’s like first-ten-season-Simpsons mixed with NPR had […]

Nope nope nope

Secret Lives of Great Filmmakers by Robert Schnakenberg

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So I knew this book would be trashy, but I didn’t expect it to be actual trash. I’m gonna finish it, but I hated this book enough that I couldn’t wait to be done to start my review. (Edit: I finished it. It also states that Jack Nicholson got his break playing the crazed dental patient in Little Shop of Horrors – he was masochistic, but it was the dentist who was crazed – and credits Yeardley Smith as the voice of Bart Simpson when she’s actually […]

I guess Gaiman already took Trigger Warning as a title…

In Shock by Rana Awdish

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I want to start with the positives. I learned a lot from this book.  I work in health care and related to a lot of the author’s experiences (I went septic after a post partum kidney infection, so it was kind of a cold-water-to-the-face moment reading that 1/3 of patients with sepsis die, and mine was an antibiotic resistant strain. Now I know why the nurse I brought doughnuts for once I recovered looked like she’d seen a ghost when I walked in the door). […]

Mundane Lovers

Modern Lovers by Emma Straub

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That title isn’t an insult.  I’m in my early thirties, but the spouse and I have been together since I was 18, so even though the main characters have a few years on me, a lot of this felt familiar. The whole book felt kind of familiar – the characters, the plot points, the story beats, the writing itself – but in a good way.  It’s like a Kate Spade dress.  Nothing life changing, but comfortable and well crafted. We follow the three living members […]



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