Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A pandemic is no time to read about an epidemic

Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky

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IT HAS BEEN FIFTY YEARS since Thomas Francis mounted that podium in Ann Arbor and told the world what it so desperately wanted to hear: an effective polio vaccine had finally been produced. For most Americans today, the euphoria, the pure relief that greeted his announcement, is difficult to understand. They were not alive to experience the memories of polio summers before 1955—the images of shut down movie theaters and empty swimming pools, the panicked warnings of parents to their children, the daily counts of […]

A little for me and a little for you

A Little Space for Me by Jennifer Gray Olson

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A Little Space for Me is a modern story of having our emotions and the space to deal with them. Jennifer Gray Olson’s take of dealing with the everyday stress of too many people, too much noise and other issues kids face today, is spiritual. Our young narrator has loud family and school and so much more to deal with they just want a little space. And they take it. You see in the illustrations that they literally take a bit of sky/space and put […]

Narfna, thank you for reviewing Ace, the book I didn’t know I needed.

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About, Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen

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During Cannonball Bingo, I read The Sound of Stars in which a character identifies as ace or maybe demi-ace.  The use of ace as an identifier was unfamiliar to me and a google search later brought me to the definition of ‘ace’ being a shorthand for asexual.  My initial thought was that was interesting as I hadn’t been familiar with the term but then ‘ace’ got tucked away. Then I read Narfna’s review  and had the realization that asexuality was something I needed to look further […]

A Few Things Get Lost in Translation from Podcast to Book

Sawbones: the Horrifying, Hilarious Road to Modern Medicine by Dr. Sydnee McElroy, Justin McElroy

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So the question for this first review of 2021 was do I review the book I started (and finished) in 2021 first, or the one I started in 2020 and finished in 2021 first? I have decided to review Sawbones: The Book first, because I’m pretty sure I started 2020 with Will My Cate Eat My Eyeballs? (which I greatly enjoyed) and there are some strong similarities, both being medical in nature, as well as presented by an expert (one of the co-authors of Sawbones […]

Proud Cliché, Baby!

The Power of Vulnerability by Brené Brown

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Welp, it feels vulnerable to write a review of a book about vulnerability, a book I really love.  A book that admitting I love means also admitting that I suffer from so many of the mental patterns she describes and that yes, I do need the help she’s offering.  My judgey-mcjudgersons voice says, “You’re such a cliché — a 40-something white woman raving about Brené Brown.”  Yes.  Yes I am.  And also there’s a reason this woman is as famous as she is.  I’ve listened […]

Get Ready for Resolutions?

French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireillle Guiliano

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French Women Don’t Get Fat was first published in late 2004.  I had heard about it at the time (which was personally timely, more on that later), but paid it little mind sixteen years ago.  Life plodded on and while 2004 me was a single, scraping it together grad student, 2020 me  is a hard-working, exhausted, mother of two who, yes, is tipping the scales at more than my doctor says I should.  Did I go out looking for a “self-help” book?  No.  What actually […]



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