Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I Do Love These Characters

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

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Best for: Fans of the Thursday Murder Club series. In a nutshell: Nick has found a bomb under his car. At Joyce’s daughter’s wedding, he talks to Elizabeth to ask for help. The next day, Nick is missing, and his business partner is a possible suspect. In other news, Ron’s daughter has kicked out her abusive husband, who happens to also be a less than model citizen in other ways. Worth quoting: N/A Why I chose it: I have enjoyed all the books in the […]

Forty women trapped in a bunker for years

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

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CBR17Bingo: “Diaspora” – a little bit of a stretch, but this book has countless people all taken from their homes and brought to another location that is foreign to them. (It’s unclear, but it seems like they may have been brought from a different planet.) I stumbled on this book while browsing Audiobooks for something to listen to in my car. I had no idea what I was getting into. I Who Have Never Known Men (1995) by Jacqueline Harpman was originally written in French and has recently been […]

Julia Song is Not the Problem

Julia Song is Undateable by Susan Lee

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Is it weird that the third act breakup is my favorite thing about Julia Song is Undateable? I’m not giving a backhanded compliment. I really thought that Susan Lee was masterful in building to the conflict, making me wonder how these two are getting a happily ever after, and then producing one that is satisfying and believable. I have thought about what she pulled off for days. Unfortunately, I can’t talk about it without spoiling so many things. I saw the seeds planted, hoped so […]

Fascinating Exploration of Language

Wordslut by Amanda Montell

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Best for: Those interested in learning more about how our language is shaped by – and shapes – society. Everyone who speaks US English. In a nutshell: Author Montell explores a variety of aspects of language and how it reinforces and can be used to fight the patriarchy. Worth quoting: N/A (but only because it was an audio book and usually I was running while listening so didn’t have a way to note something down) Why I chose it: The topic was intriguing to me. […]

Something’s Wrong

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

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I’m going to be honest; I picked this one up based on the cover alone.  And like they tell you not to do, I did sort of judge this book by its cover. Well, the cover and the first section of the book. And I thought I’d be dealing with a short set of vignettes about pulp horror monsters in space. Turns out that was a bit of a lowball there—there is actually a story arc that we follow throughout the book.  Poor Dementer, has […]

“Death is the engine that keeps us running, giving us the motivation to achieve, learn, love, and create.”

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

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CBR17 Bingo: Review – I first came across Caitlin Doughty and her books through numerous reviewers on Goodreads. Caitlin Doughty had been long fascinated with death, but when she started working at a crematory, she soon found herself more interested in the question of why death in America has become so distant from the general public. I am maybe not the right audience for Doughty’s message about the loss of intimacy and ritual in the American way of death. I am a Hindu, and we […]



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