Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Violating the Status Quo

Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema by Anne Helen Petersen

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CBR 15 Bingo – Dwelling: All the people discussed in this book work and live in Hollywood – both town and concept – which for better or for worse casts a long shadow across their lives. Hollywood has always banked on its stars and their stories as a promotional tool, so heavily that when actors openly diverge from their public personas it often causes backlash among the public. Especially in the first half-century of Hollywood, stars were marketed with particular stories and personas, often as […]

Burned. Out.

Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen

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Best for: All of us, collectively, as a society, who are fed up with the expectations that we just work work work. In a nutshell: Author Petersen explores how the Millennial generation has been put into basically a really shit situation. Worth quoting: “This isn’t a personal problem. It’s a societal one — and it will not be cured by productivity apps, or a bullet journal, or face mask skin treatments, or overnight fucking oats.” “Just because middle-class parents decided that a certain style of […]

Have you ever just thought about a vocation?

The Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen

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This is a Audible original for the month of October written by Buzzfeed journalist Anne Helen Petersen, who has written a handful of other recent books, and among other things has a PhD in Media Studies. The book is a long article and series of interview with various millenials from around the country and a variety of background and professions discussing elements of their stories, their education, the cultural language that have led them to the kinds of burnout that many of are familiar with, […]

I feel like this could review two books…

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

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The book club I’m part of read this the month before I joined, and so it had always been on my TBR list, just because I caught the tail end of their conversation. I found it at a discount book sale, and picked it up right away. It’s the story of Helen, who, as a girl became obsessed with falconry. She learned the lingo, observed other falconers, and read all the books – including TH White’s The Goshawk. When her father dies in her adulthood, […]

A mixed bag

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Petersen

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Anne Helen Petersen is a pretty great writer but as with any essay or short story collection, some are better than others. She’s trying to tackle all the biggest criticisms hurled at woman for daring to exist while not conforming to societal expections. Too Strong (Serena Williams), Too Fat (Melissa McCarthy), Too Gross (Abbi Jacobson & Illana Glazer), Too Slutty (Nicki Minaj), Too Old (Madonna), Too Pregnant (Kim Kardashian), Too Shrill (Hillary Clinton), Too Queer (Caitlyn Jenner), Too Loud (Jennifer Weiner), & Too Naked (Lena […]

Is she talking about me?

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In a book with a title that could well have (and sometimes has) been specifically directed at me, Anne Helen Petersen – a woman who regularly brightens up my internet reading – takes a look at how the behaviour of women is policed by society, using the lens of celebrity. With each chapter focusing on a different female celebrity – with a cast including an athlete, singer, politician, reality TV star and more – Petersen looks at the various aspects of their characters that have […]



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