Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Do Re Mi excited to tell you about this book

The First Notes: The Story of Do, Re, Mi by Julie Andrews

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I know one thing about music: what I like and what I don’t like. And, granted that can be eclectic (Jim Byrnes anyone? How about Queen? Elvis? Ella? Bowie? Fraggles?) But I never thought about the “how to” of it. After all, why bother? I knew I liked it, but why should I learn about Do, Re, Mi? It’s just a silly song in a fun musical movie right?  Well, yes, but it’s a lot more, too. While I still do not know a lot […]

Two women and a whole lotta space

Sally Ride of the Little People, Big Dreams by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara

Journey to the Stars: Kalpana Chawla, Astronaut by Laurie Wallmark

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In the 1960s it was Space: The Final Frontier.. We have come a long way since those words first graced our eyes and ears. We put a man on the moon, we put space crafts on Mars and we put several women there, too.  Women who would make history in ways other than being “the first” or almost first. Sally Ride was the first American woman, third in space. Kalpana Chawla would be the woman to represent that no matter where you come from, or […]

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 […]

Yeah, I love you and all that mushy stuff

Valentines for All: Esther Howland Captures America's Heart by Nancy Churni

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We see books about people sending and/or making Valentine Day cards, or books about “making someone” your valentine, but not how they became popular. And when I found Valentines for All: Esther Howland Captures America’s Heart I had two thoughts. One, it was going to be all pinks and cutesy, and two it would be about how the holiday was invented. And I was incorrect on both accounts.  You see, the holiday was already going well enough, except it was not at the level it […]

Siskel & Ebert Get the Biography Treatment

Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever by Matt Singer

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The core of Opposable Thumbs is the relationship between Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert and how it turned into the entity “Siskel & Ebert” that still dominates the movie review and criticism landscape more than a decade after the death of its last surviving member. It is the nature of that professional relationship, born from a natural wellspring of competition, which turned into decades of increased media literacy. It began in earnest in 1975, when the two men met for lunch in a Chicago pub […]

Bear arms

Brothers In Arms: A True World War II Story of Wojtek the Bear and the Soldiers Who Loved Him by Susan Hood

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We all know about Winnie the Pooh and what they did for the Canadian army and British literature. But did you know the Polish army had Wojtek the Bear (or Private Wojtek Mis aka: Private Wojtek Teddy Bear)? A young bear cub was purchased by a soldier so a woman named Irena (Inka) Bokiewicz could care for it. However, she quickly learned it would become 500 pounds and even at the small size he was when found, he was already causing too much trouble. He […]



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