Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Cinema helps us to remember that although we all have the right to shine, some of us must shine in the background, out of focus, and not too brightly.”

Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade

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Finally, a book about the greatest film of our generation! What film, you may ask? What film does Richard Ayoade venerate, dissect, cling to, and live for? Richard Ayoade; the author of several books on film, director and writer of several films, host of a delightful travel show, and beloved cast member/co-creator of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (and many other things) has written an entire book about the forgettable 2003 Gwenyth Paltrow rom-com View From the Top. Yes, View From the Top; the movie where Mike Myers […]

Still just as good as I remembered it

What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long

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I first read and reviewed this book back in 2011 (when it came out), during Cannonball III. My original review, which among other things contains a plot summary, can be found here. If you do take a look at my previous review (or just check my rating of this book), you can see that the rather unlikely romance between Miss Genevieve Eversea Lord Alexander Moncrieffe, the Duke of Falconbridge is one of my absolute favourites. I loved it utterly when I first read it back in […]

now is the winter of our discontent

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

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The Party Cloudy Patriot is a loose collection of essays cobbled into a narrative of sorts, and that narrative revolves around patriotism in current political times while framing through the lenses of the past. In this case, Sarah Vowell was living in the fresh hell of 2001; the country was still reeling from the disastrous election cycle that falsely awarded W the win, Clinton’s impeachment was still fresh and Al Gore’s know-it-all pigeonhole could not save the Left, and a day in September changed us in […]

Surprisingly Serious Truths from a Seriously Silly Guy

Vacationland by John Hodgman

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John Hodgman is many things: Daily Show correspondent, a “PC”, podcast guest and host, internet judge, former literary agent, and generally droll New England weirdo. He wrote several books prior to  Vacationland, and all of those books were collections of “facts”. I say “facts”, as that is what he might say as well: Hodgman (with the help of Jonathan Coulton) created three full books of completely made-up facts that he presented as being VERY true. They are a weird delight, and sometimes they are correct, […]

“Jesus Christ went by the name Jesus and was only called “Geez” by his closest friends.”

A Load of Hooey by Bob Odenkirk

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HEY! DO YOU LIKE TO BE SHOUTED AT BY BOB ODENKIRK AND HIS FRIENDS? BECAUSE BOY HOWDY, DO I HAVE THE BOOK FOR YOU! Bob Odenkirk is one of the greatest shouters of all time. No one can bellow DAMN IT quite like him- a skill he’s been sharing with us for 30 years. When he isn’t the one yelling, he is busy writing shouts upon shouts. He is responsible for Chris Farley’s Matt Foley- you know, they guy in a VAN down by the […]

Prepare to shift allegiances…and take a look in the mirror.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

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This was the January book club pick for the Reese Witherspoon book club, and a fun read to get through. I enjoyed the “book club” aspect as well, following along with prompts on Instagram and the loads of other folks tackling this book at the same time. On to the book! This book is clever. It starts with an embarrassing and racist encounter in a grocery store, Emira who is babysitting for Briar is accused by a security guard of kidnapping her. Emira is black, […]



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