Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Let heartbreak be alternative to coffe break, five midmorning minutes devoted to emotion.”

Rainbow Remnants in Rock Bottom Ghetto Sky by Thylias Moss

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I picked up Thylias Moss’s Rainbow Remnants in Rock Bottom Ghetto Sky through a variety of reading challenge tasks (Read Harder’s read a book of nature poems, Read Women’s tasks about a book about the natural world, a collection of poetry by a black woman), book club squares (Going with The Wilds), and some internet sleuthing. While I find it difficult to review poetry, I can tell you that I agree with the book’s blurb, it is a powerful book with poems that present the […]

What I’ve been reading since the last time I posted a bunch of books

Legacy of Conquest by Patricia Limerick

You are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett

Prisoner without a Name Cell without a Number by Jacobo Timerman

Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis

Forever Flowing by Vasily Grossman

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

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Legacy of Conquest – 5/5 Stars Not the most exciting audiobook I could have listened to, but a very worthwhile overview of not only American Western history but also historiography of the field too. Patricia Limerick was at the time a historian working in a Western American university. She tells a story of a colleague getting a job with a Southern university and he declares that he should learn a little Southern history to supplement his expertise. She asks him if he learned Western history […]

Hitting you in the feels

The Wishing Balloons by Jonathan D. Voss

Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home by Zahra Marwan

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When I do a picture book review post I try and put the same theme together. Does not always work of course, but this time, I am putting together two books that gave feels. Or will give feels to the reader. Both books have a message, are soft but strong and know how to tug at the ol’ emotions. In many ways, we have seen these messages to distractions. It is their illustrations that give them fresh tones. The Wishing Balloons is a thoughtful and […]

What is your reading mood today?

This Book Will Get You to Sleep by Jory John

I am the Storm by Jane Yolen

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Two picture books that could not be more different are the subjects of this review. If you have a more lighthearted need, you can read This Book Will Get You to Sleep. And if you are looking for a more calm and deeper book, try I am the Storm. Both are good books but have a different niche to fill. This book will either put you to sleep or keep you awake. However, since This Book Will Get You to Sleep! is busy, filled with […]

A girl called Tove – plus, my first (half) cannonball!

The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen

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Bingo: Reader’s Choice (Sportsball) CW: abortion, drug addiction Before reading this, I had never heard of Tove Ditlevsen.  I’m not into poetry, and as far as I’m aware have never picked up a book by a Danish writer. But when The Copenhagen Trilogy was re-released earlier this year, it got such glowing reviews that I had to read it. Ditlevsen was born in 1917, and in Childhood she tells her story of growing up poor, with parents who did not understand her, and discovering that she […]

Two Touching Stories

Typewriter by Yevgenia Nayberg

No Ordinary Jacket by Sue-Ellen Pashley

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Once upon a time a typewriter proudly typed for its Russian author. It had the Cyrillic keyboard, that tapped out story after story. But when the author comes to America, the typewriter is used less. That is, until a new owner finds it and has it ring out again. Typewriter by Yevgenia Nayberg, is a different story. Typewriter is, as advertised, about a typewriter. While we tend not to see something like this today, the book is set in a contemporary setting. There is some […]



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