Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Almost finished

A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

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A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories (1955) by Flannery O’Connor was one of the last books on my 50 Books Every Woman Should Read Before She Turns 40 List. I previously knew neither the author nor the book, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. And to be honest, I’m not exactly sure what to think now that I’m done. I’m impressed by O’Connor’s writing, disturbed by the content, disturbed by the pervasive racism, and once again impressed that I had such a […]

The station agent often tried a little teasing with women, especially the plain ones who seemed to appreciate it.

Hateship Friendship Courtship Loveship Marriage by Alice Munro

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I feel like every review of Alice Munro books, except for maybe her most recent book Dear Life, would be exactly the same. Dear Life is different because that book contains long sections of memoir stories that change the tenor of the over all collection. So if you like Alice Munro, you’ll like this one. She’s one of the most consistent writers I’ve ever read. I read her collected stories, which is about 650 pages of 35 years worth of her best stories, and then […]

A headlesss classic AND (totally unrelatedly) a short story about an attempted suicide

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

The Day I Died by E. B. Black

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I read this because it was short and a classic.  I’ve seen the movie, but somehow I never had to read this book.  It took me a couple nights reading while I was laying in bed at night.  It was definitely interesting, but it was a little slow.  I honestly don’t read a lot of classics, so it could just be that I’m not used to the pacing of books written a long time ago. I don’t know.  I didn’t love it, and I didn’t […]

So that’s why people download books on Kindle

Rock Needs River: A Memoir About a Very Open Adoption  by Vanessa McGrady

The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan

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My favorite uncle (admittedly the bar was set very low) passed away last week; my mother, sister and I descended upon my aunt’s house in rural Arkansas for four days along with everyone else I share my maternal DNA with where we sat around the kitchen table drinking as well as sat in the living room drinking. It was in rural Arkansas that I learned Amaretto and orange juice is the best way to start your morning, the best way to make bacon involves adding […]

Days of Future Past

A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers by Victor LaValle

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  FYI, the cover of this in person is so cool. You eventually can see the word “history” hidden behind “future”. Wow. What a great collection. I didn’t give any story less than four stars. Some stories resonated with me very much because some of them read as things that could totally happen in a year or less with the ways things are going on in the United States right now. Other stories had a very strong fantasy element (which I liked) but didn’t seem […]

The notice informed them of a temporary matter.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

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I have liked each of Jhumpa Lahiri’s books of fiction, but this has always been and remains my favorite, and my argument for the best of them. I hope she gets back to writing fiction, but I recognize she seems to be exploring something quite important to her through translating Italian. The title story in this collection is about a guide following a young Indian-American family visiting India and taking on a translator and guide. In his everyday life he works for a doctor translating […]



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