Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Hyperion – a modern classic

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

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Some books make you think and force you to challenge long held concepts. Some books affect you emotionally and can force you to weep during social situations where it may be inappropriate (reading on the bus, for example). Only a true classic can achieve both of those objectives and Simmons’ Hyperion certainly qualifies. This is a book that has won many awards and been hailed as a classic for over two decades and I am now realizing how influential it is when I watch shows […]

Let’s Talk About Death, Bay-Bee

From Here to Eternity - Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty

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Do you have a plan for what happens when you die? What do you want to happen to your mortal remains? My husband wants his ashes packed into a cannon and used to set off a controlled avalanche- preferably over a miniature village- so that he can “take something out with [him]” when he goes. I am not sold entirely on my end yet; I had an idea involving fireworks before I started reading this delightful book, but now the door has been opened to […]

Oddly comforting book

A Hug from Heaven by Anna Whiston-Donaldson

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My cousin and I were texting a few days before the new year. She mentioned her youngest son was having issues dealing with the death of his father. Now, this is not unusual, but he passed a couple of years ago. You would think he would have been dealing with things then. But he is autistic and was young when his dad passed. Now he is starting to “mature” and realize the things that kids do about death, such as: Dad is not coming back […]

Making Advent Special

Praying Advent by Joan Mueller

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Praying Advent by Joan Mueller My rating: 4 of 5 stars My Christian background was not from a liturgical tradition so I had no idea what Advent was. Christmas was the big focus in December. And even then, my family would do a big thing in the morning and sometimes start taking the decorations down in the evening. Needless to say, Christmas was a let down for me. In college I began looking for ways to enrich my spiritual life and began to look at […]

A Keystone Work by a Recently Deceased Author, or Why Didn’t I Read This Sooner

Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans

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Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans My rating: 4 of 5 stars I read “Searching for Sunday” for a book club recently. I have been wanting to read the works of Rachel Held Evans, but life got in the way and distracted me until now. I was not disappointed. She melds her experience growing up in an evangelical church community with the youth groups, each reach opportunities, and community mindedness. As she grew into adulthood, she started to […]

Deeper Themes of a Classic Author

A Jane Austen Devotional by Steffany Woolsey

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A Jane Austen Devotional by Steffany Woolsey My rating: 5 of 5 stars I’m always curious about devotionals that take pieces of literature and extrapolate life lessons. Sometimes I think the editors can either read too much into the passages they select or the life lesson is so broad it could fit any literary passage. Steffany Woolsey does a good job finding passages from Jane Austen’s works that deal directly with the life lesson, Ms. Woolsey is attempting to convey. In connecting the passage from […]



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