Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Which way the wind blows

Wind Watchers by Micha Archer

Why Does the Wind Blow?: Weather with the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

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When I find books that can be “themed” I enjoy writing about them. Even though both of these books were quick reads, they work extremely well with each other by being themed as Wind Books. They work for multiple ages, allowing both books to grow with your child. Wind Watchers by Micha Archer was read via an online reader copy and is due March 2025. This will give me time to read it again, not so much because it was the best book ever, but […]

A “tumultuous time” of Reform

Benito Juárez Fights for Justice by Beatriz Gutierrez Hernandez

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Benito Juárez Fights for Justice by Beatriz Gutierrez Hernandez was in a collection of old online reader links I had. This book is from 2023 so it is not as old as some I recently found, but it is not new either. However, the great thing about it is that it is relevant any time. Of course, that also is one of the drawbacks to things as it is dealing with the injustices minority peoples are still facing all over the world, even in the […]

All In, This Family

The Devil At His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty by Valerie Bauerlein

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While I enjoy true crime with the best of them, I tend to avoid the True Crime Podcast Industrial Complex, which has turned a bunch of amateur know nothings into wannabe Hercule Poirots with cameras. The field is currently saturated with amateurism, leading people to consider and conclude the most ridiculous things. It also turns the crimes they cover — most often homicide — into a carnival and ignores the fact that these are real people with real tragedies and our justice system is ill-equipped […]

Leaping and leaping!

We Leap Together by Christopher Silas Neal

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, picture books are great for that “I need to read but I don’t want something too long or heavy. And I can still say, “I read a book!” feeling. We Leap Together by Christopher Silas Neal (due April 2025; read via an online reader copy) is one of those quickies. It is about how the whales and humans are a lot alike when it comes to many things, but mostly caring for a young one.  I […]

“This brilliant darkness, with which I am coming to terms.”

This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers by Jeff Sharlet

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I love photojournalism so I was intrigued by this when I saw it at a photography museum bookshop. This Brilliant Darkness is a mix of photographs, interviews, and memoir. It covers a gamut of “frightened and frightening people,” with Sharlet talking to the homeless, queer people in Russia, violent homophobes, an abortionist in Kenya, and many more people. He has a good eye for a story while remaining respectful and thoughtful. Sometimes projects like this can feel exploitative or extractive, but this one didn’t really […]

Mothers and Daughters

My Mama, Cass: A Memoir by Owen Elliot-Kugell

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Cbr16bingo Celestial (bingo)    Cass Elliot was a rock star and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Owen Elliot-Kugell is Cass Elliot’s daughter, orphaned at the age of 7 after Cass’s tragic and unexpected death in London in July of 1974. Now in her 50s, Owen has spent many years missing her mother and trying to learn as much about her as possible from those who knew her — family, friends and people who worked with her in the music business of […]



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