From the title you’re probably thinking this is some kind of gossipy expose on the lives of teachers, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that was kinda what I wanted it to be. (I know, I know. Please don’t judge me.) It was totally not that. It’s basically a book of what the author calls interlocking essays, all of which are really either meditations or vignettes on teaching. If that’s what you’re looking for, it’s a worthy read. Fortunately, that’s also a […]
Any number of Sundays would never be enough
I really love Billy Crystal — his movies, yes, but he also just seems like a wonderful man. I read his autobiography a few months ago and loved it. 700 Sundays is much shorter, and feels more like stand up — I can’t remember if he based his HBO stand up special on the book, or vice versa — but it’s just as enjoyable and gives the reader an even better picture of a wonderful man. “Consider the rose…The rose is the sweetest smelling flower of all, […]
Like *so many* of our presidents hang around naked…
Other title considered “Not a Doomsday Review”. Inside the Residence is one of the few books devoted to the people behind the scenes at the White House. The resident staff maintain the six-floor mansion’s 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, 28 fireplaces, three elevators, and eight staircases, and prepare everything from hors d’oeuvres for intimate gatherings to meals served at elaborate state dinners. Andersen Bower interviews former resident workers (only one current staffer agreed to be interviewed) about their time at the White House. The more expansive […]
Just the Right Combination of Humor, Insight, and Death.
Ah, here we go. I tore through this book over two mornings ingesting every detail Ms. Doughty had to offer about her life and what her time working in crematories and mortuaries has taught her. Perhaps it was a kinship I felt with a similar academic mind craving information. Perhaps it was my previously mentioned interest in forensics, death, and disaster. But whatever it was, this book simply worked for me in a way that my previous read did not. Perhaps the best way to […]
“Dig me out, dig me in. Outta this mess, baby, outta my head”
This is another in a long series of books which I picked up to read solely on the recommendation of my fellow Cannonballers, however I probably should have paid slightly closer attention (again, nothing new there). While Carrie Brownstein’s memoir chronicles life from an interesting perspective, it did not hold my attention and instead left me wanting. ModernLove read this book earlier this year, and gave it four stars. It was her assertion that she was not someone who had listened to Sleater-Kinney (Brownstein’s band) […]
Big skies, big animals, big threats
By the time I started reading Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, I had forgotten what it was about, and I’m glad I had because otherwise, I would have had my defensives up. I added it to my library queue after reading badkittyuno’s review last month. Cannonball Read: the system works. There’s not much I can add here. badkittyuno did a killer job summarizing the experience of the read, and the broad strokes of the story that Alexander Fuller tells. It’s a memoir of […]
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