Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“You, and only you, are ultimately responsible for who you become and how happy you are” – allegedly, at least.

Girl, Wash your Face by Rachel Hollis

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To reach a happier and more fulfilling life, Rachel Hollis advises you must unlearn the lies you’ve been telling yourself and push yourself beyond whatever limits you assume are there. I am not at all a self-help book reader, though I have plenty of friends who enjoy consume this genre in books and podcasts and social media posts. To each their own, I suppose. But listening to true crime podcasts while walking my dog made me start wondering if we’d ever run across a body […]

I picked the colorful images but there is a variety that you’ll find inside

Hockney: A Graphic Life (BioGraphics) by Simon Elliott

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I could tell you every little piece of the puzzle that makes up Hockney: A Graphic Life (BioGraphics) by Simon Elliott, but then you would not have a reason to read it, and I think you really should. If you are not the usual reader for graphic novels; do not know much about David Hockney; or even if you are not a huge fan of biographies, don’t worry about it. This format might be a great way to start it for adults. This book is […]

Basketball and Clothes

Lucky Me by Rich Paul

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Lucky Me (2023) by Rich Paul was recommended to me by a friend–and as I do with many biographies–I listened to it on audiobook. Now, I have only recently been learning a little bit about basketball through my husband, but it is not a sport I have followed. That information is relevant because Rich Paul is a basketball agent. He represents LeBron James and a number of other very famous players. He is also in a serious relationship with Adele (maybe married?). Rich Paul grew up […]

Tragically beautiful

The Naked Tree by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

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The Naked Tree by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim and Janet Hong is a graphic novel adaptation of Pak Wan-Suh’s novel of the same name. I had no idea what the book was about, but the image of the cover of a young girl, with a wind-up key in her back was enticing. It also was as bit distributing. It gave me a feeling I knew what the book was going to be about, but when I was finally able to find a copy, it turned out […]

Heartfelt and Humorous Exploration of Gender and Sexuality

Will I Ever Have Sex Again? by Sofie Hagen

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Best for: Anyone who is familiar with Hagen’s work; anyone who is themselves pondering the quality of their sex life. In a nutshell: Author Hagen explores their history of gender identity and sexuality against the backdrop of not having had sex in many years. Worth quoting: I listened to Hagen read the book and know that I found a few lines noteworthy but didn’t end up writing any down. Why I chose it: I enjoyed Hagen’s first book Happy Fat and wanted to support their […]

Because misogyny has a thousand words for “unhinged bitch” but not a single one for “multiple female orgasm”

If You Can't Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury by Geraldine DeRuiter

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I thought it appropriate that, on the day of my Cannonball, I declare that I have a new hero: Geraldine DeRuiter. In 2019, she won the James Beard Foundation Award, in the category of Personal Essay Long Form, for her Everywhereist.com blog post titled “I Made the Pizza Cinnamon Rolls From Mario Batali’s Sexual Misconduct Apology Letter.” This is not why she is my hero. However, if you read this book you may understand why her story resonated with me. If You Can’t Take the […]



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