Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Amusing with a dash of heartbreak

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

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While never a huge David Sedaris fan, I started to appreciate his approach to writing when I read the excerpts from his personal diaries during the pandemic. Sedaris focuses on the little, absurd things in life and weaves an essay around them. His off-the-wall, probing questions might seem unsettling to some, but I suspect he’d make a fantastic dining companion and a hoot to have at parties. For example, in an essay titled “Six to Eight Black Men,” he talks about how he makes a […]

“If no one is going to remind you that you are worth more than all of these awful men combined, I will.”

Loud: Accepting Nothing Less than the Life You Deserve by Drew Afualo

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If you don’t follow Drew Afualo on TikTok, your FYP is doing you dirty, because Drew is a delight. I mean, for me, anyways.  Not so much for the ignorant, the misogynistic, the bullies, the shit talkers. For them? Drew is – or she should be – the absolute last person they hope to see. And she revels in it, as is obvious in her book Loud: Accepting Nothing Less than the Life You Deserve. The book is rooted in her work on her platform […]

I remember how large Komodo dragons are when I see a picture… but that’s only the start of their coolness

How Rude!: Animals That Burp, Toot, Spit, and Screech to Survive by Chana Stiefel and Anna Louise Oliver

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Education, CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge IT IS A BOOK ABOUT FARTS! And burps, and slime, barf, hooting, hollering and…. Lots of other gross stuff and seemingly rude stuff that animals do to protect themselves, capture prey or trying to survive, but not to be rude like we humans have learned these acts are. The first few pages were about the slimers such as the clownfish and a worm that not only looks like a million miles of… um poop… it smells it too! What book […]

You’re a poet and you don’t write about it that much

Dino Poet : A Graphic Novel by Tom Angleberger

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Education, CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge Learning poetry in a fun, simpler manner is a great way to introduce kids to the genre. And you can do that in Dino Poet : A Graphic Novel by Tom Angleberger. I would have liked to have seen more emphasis on poetry not needing to rhyme, but overall it is a clever book with enough humor to keep kids interested. Currently available, I read via an online reader copy. Now, I might not purchase a copy for myself as […]

She loved hats, but loved birds more

Harriet's Ruffled Feathers: The Woman Who Saved Millions of Birds by Joy McCullough

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History, CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge She liked hats. No, she loved hats. But when she learned how the hats with feathers (and even birds) were made, she decided that something must be done! And not only would she start the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Harriet Hemenway would stop women from wearing hats with real birds and feathers on them. And in Harriet’s Ruffled Feathers: The Woman Who Saved Millions of Birds by Joy McCullough and illustrated by Romina Galotta, we are introduced to how. This picture […]

What would you do?

Shadows on the Ice: The 1972 Andes Disaster by Frédéric Bertocchini, Thierry Diette and Pacal Nino

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History, CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge I am starting this with saying this is, to say the least, not an easy read. There are several situations that could be triggering. The main one is that this is about the 1972 Andes plane crash that would result in the eventual consumption of the deceased passengers. I was not completely ready for what was going to happen (and I felt I was prepared) and therefore I was not comfortable with the subject. Also, I will say that I […]



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