Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Sophia

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I love to read, and I love to learn. I wish I were retired so I could spend more time on my random hobbies!

Sophia's Reviews:

The search for the Golden State Killer

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

by 3 Comments

I was looking for a good audiobook for my commute when I saw I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (2018) by Michelle McNamara was available. I remember reading some reviews from Cannonball when this book first came out. I was intrigued, but true crime is not really my thing–I don’t do well with violence, especially real violence–so I gave it a pass at the time. But I was still interested years later, and listening to it on audiotape seemed like a good compromise. Since the murder of […]

A beautiful mix of The Great British Baking Show and romance

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker

by 2 Comments

Since I’ve discovered Lucy Parker, I’ve read all of her books. However, I’m not good at keeping track of her publishing dates. Thus, I am several months late in reading and reviewing Battle Royal (2021). I had a good time reading this book. Instead of the many productive tasks I had planned, including working hard to start catching up on reviews, I laid on my couch all day and read, adding yet another book review to my to-do list. I obviously enjoyed reading Battle Royal, probably even more […]

“You know that there are no black people in Africa.”

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

by 11 Comments

I was happy when my book club chose to read Caste (2020) by Isabel Wilkerson. I’d already read The Warmth of Other Suns by Wilkerson and had Caste on my reading list. Although the underlying theme is still race in America, I found Caste to be very different from Warmth of Other Suns. Caste explains how slavery created a caste system in America that still survives today. Wilkerson does this by exploring the eight pillars of caste and comparing the caste systems in America, India, and Nazi Germany. Although I found Warmth a little more interesting because Wilkerson […]

“Schizophrenia cannot be understood without understanding despair.” R.D. Laing

Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker

by 1 Comment

I first saw Hidden Valley Ranch by Robert Kolker on NPR’s Best Books of 2020. I have three brothers and one of them has Schizophrenia. It has been crippling for both him and our family. Hidden Valley Ranch caught my eye because it is the true story of a family with twelve kids: ten boys and two girls. Six of the boys were diagnosed with Schizophrenia when they were young adults. This book describes the history of the family, beginning with Don and Mimi Galvin: how they grew up, how they met, […]

“how lucky, not having to live with the ache of saying goodbye”

How Lucky by Will Leitch

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My boyfriend read How Lucky (2021) by Will Leitch and then recommended it to me. After reading the description and first couple of pages, I decided I was interested. And I’m glad I read it. Not only was the book from the perspective of a person living with some pretty severe disabilities, but there is also mystery, suspense, friendship, and plenty of jokes Daniel lives in Athens, Georgia, home to the University of Georgia. He has been living with SMA, a progressive disease similar to ALS that […]

It started out fun

Beach Read by Emily Henry

by 1 Comment

I first saw Beach Read (2020) by Emily Henry on my library’s website. I was about to head to Hawaii on vacation, and it seemed like the perfect book to bring with me. Unfortunately, there was quite a wait for it at the library, so I didn’t get to read it until after I returned from vacation. January Andrews is a best-selling romance novelist, but she is dealing with a lot these days. Most devastating, her father recently died of a heart attack. As difficult as this […]



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