Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Why I Run

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

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Best for: Runners looking for a meditation on running. In a nutshell: Author Murakami, better known by most for his novels, shares how running impacts his life. Worth quoting: “People sometimes sneer at those who run every day, claiming they’ll go to any length to live longer. But I don’t think that’s the reason most people run. Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest.” “I’m often asked what I think about as […]

Summer Road Trips: Listening to Carl Hiaasen books because he’s the only author my husband and I agree on

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiassen

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A brief introduction that you can absolutely skip, the review will follow: This summer as I criss and crossed my home province and the neighbouring one- dodging wildfires, construction, tourists, pack of elk or goats standing in the middle of the highway playing chicken with Alberta truckers, it was the not-so-sultry-but-very-sarcastic tones of a Carl Hiaasen novel that filled my car. I like Carl Hiaasen, don’t get me wrong, but at the beginning of the summer I had read three of his books in my […]

I seldom find what I’m looking for in romance novels, but I keep trying them anyway

Just A Heartbeat Away by Cara Bastone

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My wife first read Cara Bastone three years ago, and convinced me to give Call Me Maybe a shot. I loved it. We then downloaded this book from Audible and started listening to the audiobook on a trip we took. I got into it, but she didn’t. So we turned the book off, and I never really went back to it. Well, I just wrapped up a pretty heavy book last week, and took a vacation in Georgia this week, so I needed something to […]

Willpower alone won’t guarantee survival.

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

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Shelley Parker-Chan and Natalie Naudus (narrator) kicked my head in with She Who Became the Sun. It took a bit to get into the book, listening for 20 minutes here and there, but by the time I hit the 3 hour mark I had a hard time stopping so that I could sleep, and even then I dreamed about Zhu Chongba, General Ouyang, and Ma Xiuying (I am reliant on Wikipedia for spellings because I don’t have the text). The unnamed girl who takes over […]

Great Book—But Still Not Pleased With The Outcome.

The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA by Jorge L. Contreras

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I love a good turn of narrative non-fiction. Back in the early years of my PhD—which was in genetics—the topic of gene ownership and gene patents was a huge deal. If you were working in the field, there was no way you could have avoided getting dragged into the discussion; whether you were hearing about it from a medical perspective, an agricultural perspective or a ‘shit, I was broke doing my degree all those years ago so you’ll never guess what I did*’ perspective, you […]

Younger is always dumber and wising up takes blood…and time.

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

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I tend to think prequels are unnecessary. I don’t know that Bookshops & Bonedust is necessary from a story telling perspective. From a soul perspective, yes, it is necessary. Legends & Lattes was about coffee, baked goods and friendships. Bookshops & Bonedust is about books, baked goods, and friendships. The book was read by the author, Travis Baldree, who is also a voice actor. I enjoyed his narration so much I may get his narration of the Legends & Lattes audiobook. (Who am I kidding, […]



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