Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Cleaning up the forest and your thoughts

No Ivy League by Hazel Newlevant

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No Ivy League by Hazel Newlevant was not what I expected from what I had read about it and the cover. Hazel’s story is a coming of age story, which is not a new theme. However, the way Newlevant presents it feels fresh. The graphic novel has an odd cover look to it. First it looks like it is going to be about a middle schooler or young highschooler, but for the middle school age. But then it looks more teen and for the 15 […]

For the Trees!

Franklin's Trees by AJ Schenkman

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In July 2024 Franklin’s Trees was published. I wasn’t able to read a (online) copy until early 2025. Now, it is not a book I went WOW over, or feel that it was worth waiting for, but it is a book that is a nice book when you find it. It never really wowed me, but AJ Schenkman’s book did interest me. I was not sure what to expect, but went about it with an open mind. We know some about Franklin D. Roosevelt, but […]

“Before you sentence the guilty, at least listen through to the end of the story.”

Memoirs of a French Courtesan: Volume 1: Rebellion by Celeste Mogador, Kristen Hall-Geisler (translator)

Memoirs of a French Courtesan: Volume 2: Spectacle by Celeste Mogador, Kristen Hall-Geisler (translator)

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Memoirs of a French Courtesan: Volume 1: Rebellion – 4 stars Before she was the famed courtesan Mogador, Céleste was a young girl with a troubled childhood running with her mother from an abusive stepfather. Sex workers were an integral part of Paris’s bohemian society in the 19th century, but one of the first of them to put her own story down for herself was Céleste Mogador. Having heard plenty on the subject in operas and Les Mis, I was interested in hearing one of […]

The World Gone Mad

Our Man in Tokyo: An American Ambassador and the Countdown to Pearl Harbor by Steve Kemper

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The attack on Pearl Harbor was shocking and unexpected to the American public and government, but for Joseph C Grew, the American ambassador to Japan, it was the only logical outcome to a decade’s worth of missed opportunities for peace. For all the many times we rehashed World War Two in school, I never learned much about what led Japan to side with the Axis, and why they seemingly so suddenly launched into war with the United States – Pearl Harbor always arrived as a […]

Interesting Even if You’re Familiar with the Topic

All That Remains by Sue Black

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Best for: Those interested in forensic anthropology. Not for those who find the discussion of death (and specifics surrounding the investigation of it) to be traumatizing. In a nutshell: Forensic Anthropologist Black shares her experience with the dead and the living. Worth quoting: “If we cannot influence it, perhaps we shouldn’t waste precious time worrying about it.” Why I chose it: I’ve been interested in the field of forensic anthropology for awhile. Review: If you’ve read my reviews a bunch of the years (or if […]

Reading it for a friend

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts

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My first book of 2025 is an audiobook that I read for my book club. I wouldn’t have heard of it or chosen it on my own, but that’s (partly) what book clubs are for. The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America (2021) by Elizabeth Letts is the story of Annie Wilkins and her horseback adventures from Maine to Hollywood, California. Annie was a 63-year-old farmer, on her own in Maine, and things were not […]



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