Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Freaks, Geeks, and Automobiles

Role Models by John Waters

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Oooh mama, this is not for the faint of heart! If you aren’t already a fan of John Waters and his coterie of misfits and outsiders then this is NOT the place to start! I first became aware of John Waters through the 1990 film Cry-Baby. It used to be on TV fairly frequently in the late 90s/early Aughts, and I would secretly watch bits and pieces of it when my parents weren’t in the room. I had the “flashback” button on the remote primed and […]

“the potential of nothing is everything”

How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

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This book sat on my bedside table for six months. I looked at it every day, tucked it into my work bag on multiple occasions, and brought it with me on several trips but I was unable to open the cover. I was paralyzed by the guilt of being wrapped into the attention economy, and I did not feel like I was ready or able to give my meager time to “nothing” quite yet. I was wrong. I wish I had cracked it open the […]

a slight peek into the obscured past

Costalegre by Courtney Maum

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The concept of capital-A ART reigns lavishly above the characters within Costalegre. A woman and her daughter, stand-ins for Peggy and Pegeen Guggenheim, go to Mexico to wait out the steamroller of World War II. They are surrounded by the mother’s collection of artists and hangers-on. They wait for a steamship full of the mother’s collection of art which may still be creeping across the ocean towards their hideaway in the jungle. The mother’s collection is full of people and pieces deemed to be unworthy; Europe did […]

Capturing the American spirit

Hi, I’m Norman: The Story of American Illustrator Norman Rockwell by Robert Burleigh

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Hi, my name is Norman Rockwell. My friend, Robert Burleigh decided to write this picture book about me. Who am I? I am an illustrator. I am …. Well, I will let Robert tell you in his book, Hi, I’m Norman: The Story of American Illustrator Norman Rockwell. As I (Raven) was reading this picture book about an artist I have an odd connection to (more on that later), I heard a voice telling me Rockwell’s story. It is told in the first person, so […]

At the intersection of spirituality and creativity…

Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson

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For the better part of the last twenty years, Andrew Peterson has been one of my favourite songwriters. Yes, his music is Christian by genre, but not the cheeseball, put on a happy face, not based in reality garbage that you’d hear on Christian radio stations when you’re driving thru the middle of nowhere and that’s the only station that comes in. He’s a brilliant lyricist that isn’t afraid to write songs about real life and all the crap that goes with it. In some […]

Not a creature was stirring… okay TWO mice were stirring

Paper Mice by Megan Wagner Lloyd

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While first blush, Paper Mice looks like it will be AMAZING, it turns out to be only amazing (lower case). When talking to a coworker about it she mentioned that it is pretty. And that is exactly what I was trying to say to her when I was talking about it being cute. There is nothing wrong with this book, but it is not completely living up to how it starts out for my tastes. Yet, there is a pleasant enjoyment to this book that adds […]



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