Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“The power that each of us has over complete strangers to make them feel terrible and and frightened and weak is amazing.”

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

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Thank you for recommending this one, vel veeter! I’d never tried Hank Green before, but this book was a lot of fun to read and I’m excited to see there’s a sequel in the works. “When you’re faced with something you don’t understand, I think the most natural thing but also the least interesting thing you can be is afraid.” April May stumbles across something absolutely remarkable one night: a 10 foot tall statue that looks like a Transformer, standing on a street in New […]

“because for him to do nothing was to undermine his own dignity.”

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

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This was a sad, hard book to read, full of boys not much older than my own being abused and tortured in the name of reform. It becomes even sadder when you realize Whitehead based it all on a real “school”. “We must believe in our souls that we are somebody, that we are significant, that we are worthful, and we must walk the streets of life every day with this sense of dignity and this sense of somebody-ness.” Elwood Curtis, who counts Dr. Martin […]

“It’s amazing how brave you can be when you feel safe.”

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

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This was a sweet, feel good story. I really liked the main pairing of two firefighters who fall for each other even though it’s a terrible idea career-wise (especially for the woman). I also loved hearing about life in a fire station — the behind-the-scenes information about the training and the politics (at this at this fictional station near Boston) and the situations they encounter was really interesting. “That’s the thing I always love best about the human race: How we pick ourselves back up […]

“The Greeks created gods that were in their image”

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry

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I enjoyed the hell out of this book, which I listened to on audio narrated by Fry himself. It was a fun, interesting read and a great way to end my year! “The Greeks created gods that were in their image; warlike but creative, wise but ferocious, loving but jealous, tender but brutal, compassionate, but vengeful.” If you liked Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, you should definitely check this out. Fry starts with the very earliest Greek gods, and recounts their stories leading up to the age […]

Katherine Center writes a very particular type of book — and helped me hit my 5th cannonball of the year!

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

The Bright Side Of Disaster by Katherine Center

Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center

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​I really enjoyed her novel How to Walk Away, so once I finished it I sought out some other books by Katherine Center. These were all great reads, although it’s likely that by this time next year I will have no recollection of them whatsoever. They’re those kind of feel-good books that you enjoy in the moment even if they’re not going to stay with you for a long time. (4 stars) Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center I liked this one primarily because I could […]

“Since I doubt, I think; since I think, I exist.”

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse #1) by Dennis E. Taylor

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I don’t read a ton of science fiction these days, but every once in a while something catches my eye. We Are Legion (We Are Bob) caught my eye while on sale at Audible, and it really was a fun (and very geeky) read. “I had three issues that bothered me. Was I conscious? Could I actually consider myself to be alive? And was I still Bob? Philosophers had been going on and on about this type of thing for centuries, but now, for me, it […]



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