Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

My friend Serge has bought a painting.

Art by Yasmina Reza

Boy by Anna Ziegler

An American Daughter by Wendy Wasserstein

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Art – 4/5 Stars From the author of the play God of Carnage, this play begins with a short monologue from one of the three characters explaining how his friend has just bought a new piece of art of 220,000 euros. This painting is solid white, with a white background, but with the smallest indication of three diagonal stripes across the middle and maybe something at the bottom. The friend who bought it is a dentist of modest means and this piece represents a giant part […]

“Fools love to declare that they don’t suffer fools.”

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

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Repulsive, decadent, and entitled people populate these pages and you know what? I do not care! I loved it! I loved it for all of the things that it tries to be, all of the things that it mercilessly tears apart, and all of the things that it will not and cannot be. This is a lightning rod for artists, revolutionaries, trust-fund princes, and girls next door. While this book takes place mostly in the 70s, I felt like I had been a part of […]

April Showers will bring more than Flowers!

Ellie Makes a Friend by Mike Wu

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Ellie Makes a Friend is the latest installment of the Ellie series started in 2015. However, you do not have had to read the other books. Ellie Makes a Friend is a standalone gem. Mike Wu continues the adventures of one artistic elephant named Ellie in a comfortable and sweet story about being envious and worrying about one’s own talent. Of course, in the end Ellie (and we the reader) learn all about friendship. Ping is a new animal in the zoo. And at first […]

I can’t stay quiet about The Silent Patient

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaeledes

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Alicia Berenson has been silent ever since she was arrested for a violently murdering her husband. She was silent during her arrest. She was silent during her trial. She was silent during her stint at a mental health facility. Theo Fabar, a psychotherapist struggling in his own life, thinks he can help. Theo attempts the impossible: to uncover Alicia’s story and start her on the path to healing all the while she remains silent. The result of his efforts is the unraveling of a mystery […]

Blow me a story

The Boy and the Wild Blue Girl by Keith Negley

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The cover of The Boy and the Wild Blue Girl did not look appealing to me. I was not in the mood for a “wild child” and the antics that makes one assume. However, Keith Negley made a picture book that I am truly impressed with. If I have one issue it is that the theme of the girl becoming a special metaphor, might be lost on the child reading crowd. This metaphor, if told, tells the whole story. But I can say that the […]

The economy of art

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art by Don Thompson

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Ever since Maurizio Cattelan artwork, the banana that was stuck to a wall with duct tape, was sold for 120K I’ve been fascinated by the art world and the way the art economy works. This mostly meant that I’ve been trying to find information that is somewhat accessible outside of the art world. The $12 Million Stuffed Shark, is probably one of the better resources on the subjects that I found (there is also a pretty good documentary on Netflix called “Blurred Line”).  For the […]



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