Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

One for the times

Pale Rider by Laura Spinney

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In some very serendipitous timing, we ordered this book back in the fall, shortly before coronavirus made the news out of China.  Spinney’s history of the 1918 flu pandemic has become so very relevant, and luckily this history is also very readable- she is a science journalist, so has lots of practice translating science jargon and telling non-fiction stories.  The book is split into a number of sections with different focuses: the world that that flu emerged into (religious, superstitious, viruses as yet undiscovered, teeming […]

More than womb and board

You and I, as Mothers: A Raw and Honest Guide to Motherhood by Laura Prepon

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I am not a fan of Laura Prepon. I have occasionally enjoyed That 70’s Show but not enough to watch all of them, or even to go onto Orange is the New Black (like my cousin did after learning other actresses she liked were on it. And in the meantime, became a follower of Prepon’s cookbook). But when I saw we could request a reader copy of You and I, as Mothers: A Raw and Honest Guide to Motherhood I thought I would get it […]

It’s everywhere when you know where to look

Waking Up Blind by Tom Harbin

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Happy Juneteenth! Ready to be ENRAGED? One of the docs  I work for (I’m in a pediatric ophthalmology clinic) loaned me this book after I saw it on her desk and expressed interest, thinking it might be an Oliver Sacks-type book about adapting to sightlessness, but the doctor and the resident let me know it was about a doctor who allowed multiple patients to go blind through negligence and poor care in the mid 1980s.  And that the doctor in question has an honorary position […]

“I googled ‘monkey brothel’, had an existential crisis, and eventually found the details I wanted in a New Yorker article titled ‘Monkey Business’.”

Sex Power Money by Sara Pascoe

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Frequently, I find myself disagreeing with Sara Pascoe- but it’s not a problem! She’s funny, curious, and well-researched, and she makes no claims about being objective. She leans right into the fact that she her opinions are colored by her past experiences, and she remains open to other ideas and beliefs even if they do not mesh with hers. She is open and honest about her past experiences- especially those that pertain to sex, power, and money. Some are truly harrowing, yet she is a […]

Lisa Naffziger, I say this with love and respect, you are one disturbed lady! I like you! 

Minus by Lisa Naffziger

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Minus is a graphic novel that is constructed well but one very messed-up story! Whatever your biases are will directly color and create your opinion of it. Beck is a young girl who has convinced her overprotective father to let her go to college. She has been homeschooled her whole life and she is only seventeen, but knows she needs to do this. Even if she knows there are rules that will have to be strictly followed. On her way there a pit stop at […]

“I can remember how grown-up I felt then, and earlier, since about nine. Because we age one way, in one direction, every age we are is the most grown-up we’ve ever been.”

Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body by Sara Pascoe

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Sara Pascoe is here for you. There is no stone she won’t turn over and no story she won’t tell, because she is going to use her embarrassments, misunderstandings, failures, and larks to help you learn. If you are looking for a medical textbook on what it means to be a human woman then go ahead and look elsewhere. If you want a smart and unflinching comedian to share her life story with you while looking back through biology, history, and cultural norms in order […]



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