Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Both Simple and Weirdly Complex

Laws of the Game 25/26 by IFAB

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Best for: Anyone interested in becoming a football (soccer – but I’ll be calling it football for the rest of the review) referee; anyone who enjoys watching football but isn’t actually clear on what the rules are; anyone who thinks its super easy to be a referee. In a nutshell: The official laws of the game of football, along with descriptions of rule changes, and practical advice for referees. Worth quoting: “The best positions is one from which the referee can make the correct decision.” […]

Native artists give insight

Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale

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I will start with a slightly controversial statement with my review of  Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale: The stories, poetry, essays, photographs and more, are familiar events and journeys that have relatable elements for almost anyone who has ever been an outsider. Regardless of if you are a  minority, I think most people can relate to the prejudices, the destruction of history and faith, and taking the lands of people. And some of the themes […]

The other Amazonian princess

Nubia: Too Real by L. L. McKinney

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What do you do when the reader copy you are reading is missing the last 20 pages or so? You holler loudly and say, “Darn you whomever made this reader copy! I need to know what happens in Nubia: Too Real by L. L. McKinney and illustrated by Robyn Smith.” You then say, “Well I guess late September/early October won’t come soon enough!” And then you tell yourself you’ll be first in line to get the finished copy and find out what happens to our […]

The Hitter-Friendly Confines

Ten Innings at Wrigley by Kevin Cook

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The game was won by a home run hit by a Hall of Famer off of a Hall of Fame pitcher, and that’s maybe the least interesting thing about it. On May 17, 1979, the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs played a Thursday afternoon game in front of a half-full stadium. Neither team would go very far that season, but on that afternoon the teams played one of the craziest games anyone had ever seen. The main culprit was the wind, which was blowing out […]

“The perfect pass…is the simple part. The living with what it takes…is the mystery.”

American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback by Seth Wickersham

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I became a fan of Seth Wickersham’s sports writing after reading his definitive book on the New England Patriots dynasty, It’s Better to Be Feared. My attention span wasn’t the best during the COVID times, but I simply could not put that book down when it came out in 2021. I’ll bet I read all 528 pages in two or three sittings. So, of course, I was excited when Wickersham announced American Kings, an in-depth exploration into the world of the quarterback. The book is the […]

In Cloughie We Trust

I Believe In Miracles: The Remarkable Story of Brian Clough’s European Cup-winning Team by Daniel Taylor

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A few years ago, when I was trying to decide on an English Premier League team to commit to, there were a few reasons Nottingham Forest appealed to me. First, and I will not deny this, was the name. I also liked the uniform colors, and the fact that the home crowd sings a version of Paul McCartney’s Mull of Kintyre with altered lyrics. Mainly, I didn’t want to come in and pick one of the big six teams, because that’s not really who I […]



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