Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“And what about a person’s life? How do you make a map of that? The borders people draw between themselves. The scars left along the ground of one’s heart.”

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

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In five words: secrets, Caribbean, sprawling, water, heritage This was a library book club pic that I had heard of (due to the Hulu adaptation) and found it to be intriguing and unique, if also a bit uneven. It’s a story of the gnarled knots and hidden corners of a family tree, and the lengths people will go to protect those they love. After a Thanksgiving Day family blowout, the Bennett family was on rocky ground. Benny, upset at her parents reception to a big […]

“It’s terrifying when you consider that every thought we have, every choice we could possibly make, branches off into a new world.”

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

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I had been telling people for years that I didn’t like this book. Recently when I asked a friend for a recommendation of something I could read when I ran, she suggested it and I again gave it a “meh, didn’t love it.” Imagine my surprise when I figured out I had not, in fact, read this book at all. (My sincerest apologies to Blake Crouch). I conflated this book (cover on the left) with Geek Love (cover on the right), about a family of […]

Maybe You Should (EVERYONE SHOULD) Read This Book! (Bingo – Happy)

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb

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Well hellooooo. I am three reviews behind which for me is an albatross of sorts that I let guilt me into not reading until I get caught up, because um, reasons?? What an appropriate book to HAPPILY dive back in with, a bit of psychotherapy. This might be my favorite book of the year WHICH MAKES ME HAPPY. I’m presently in therapy and think everyone could benefit from it. If you are similar, than you’ll likely take to this book like a duck to water. […]

Return to Gilead

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

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When I saw Margaret Atwood speak at Northwestern in 2018 (Am I bragging a bit? Yes. It was so cool and she was great and I was in the second rooooow and I continue to not have chill about it) she teased an upcoming announcement and low and behold, it was the sequel to Handmaid’s Tale! I was 60/40 eager/skeptical. I never read the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, but of course that release was fraught with drama concerning Lee’s wishes. This was a […]

Flynn: more like Gone Girl than Dark Places…which is good.

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Gillian Flynn can definitely writer a thriller, and this one was a compelling page turner. I just discovered that I actually read her works in reverse order to her writing them. Sharp Objects is her first novel, followed by Dark Places and book-ended (heh) with Gone Girl. Flynn jumped on my radar like she did for many people, with Gone Girl, so I read it first, then Dark Places mostly because I could get it on audiobook quickly, and finally this one, also on audiobook. […]

A hilarious and heartwarming book. J/k, it’s Margaret Atwood.

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This is the May book club pick of my local library, and I was a little disappointed only because I wasn’t looking forward to rereading it. I am a huuuuuge Atwood fan and was hoping to dig into something new. Well, the joke is on me because I realized that I had somehow conflated this book with Anita Diamant’s “The Red Tent” and I had somehow never read it. For shame. And how appropriate to kick off a review of “The Handmaid’s Tale” with a […]



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