Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Lackluster Career Advice

Safe and Effective Practice by Jean Cote

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My home is cluttered with career advice books that I didn’t ask for but which it was strongly implied that I should read.  Because these two were shorter books, I’m pairing them together in a single review: Safe and Effective Practice by Jean Cote: Lawyering is easy says an old white man. Ah, hindsight, that vaunted mountaintop that the experienced get to judge the rest of us from.  Jean Cote was previously a judge on Alberta’s Court of Appeal, the highest court in the province, […]

You’re in a Cult — Call your dad! And other life advice from Karen and Georgia

Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

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Where my Murderinos at? Part self-help book (kinda), part memoir (mostly), and all kinds of things you didn’t know about Georgia and Karen (and probably weren’t afraid to ask), Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered is a breezy, easy read with some serious points underlying all the humor — a lot like the “My Favorite Murder” podcast only written down in a version you can hold! We have gone from living inside your headphones to pouring ourselves out onto the page like a couple of […]

10 Reasons to Get Out of Bed in the Morning

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon

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Within two minutes of waking up, I remember things I’d rather not: raging wildfires, hurricanes, desperate refugees, white nationalists, dead gray whales washing up onshore. Keep Going is a gift, an emotional stain remover, the pep talk  I didn’t know I needed in order to tamp down my despair and resume making art. Kleon knows the struggle is real. (Good luck staying loose and open when the outside world is invading every level of your consciousness!) Here is a person who shows his work on […]

Content warnings are a thing for a reason.

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This is the kind of book that needs to land in your lap at just the right time. It is a quirky book filled with lots of different and varied life advice. It has everything from showing gratitude and chasing your dreams to managing anxiety and remembering to brush your teeth. And one chapter about getting a dog…? So yeah, his is the kind of book that needs to land in your lap at just the right time. Sadly this was not the time for […]

We do not have the right to feel helpless.

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This is going to be the hardest and, at the same time, the easiest review I’ve ever written. To put it bluntly, Tiny Beautiful Things must be required reading for anyone who is a human. Full disclosure: when my husband left me, I didn’t talk about it for a long while except with him (it was a mostly one-sided conversation) and a handful of very close confidantes. When I opened up my circle of trust, I found what I should have realized sooner was a […]

Some Advice We All Can Probably Use

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Best for: Those who have friends or family going through a rough time, or who someday will have friends or family going through a rough time (so, all of us). In a nutshell: Dr. Crowe and Ms. McDowell provide practical ways to be there for the people you care about when they are experiencing the worst. Line that sticks with me: “Just because you have experienced the same thing as someone else does not mean you know how they feel.” Why I chose it: Two […]



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