Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

And so it begins… again. (And so it begins)

The Gates by John Connolly

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I enjoyed Good Omens immensely, so I found its non-union Irish equivalent pretty enjoyable too, if somewhat forgettable. That may seem like an unfair judgment, as comedic stories about the end of the world are going to share some commonalities, but this really felt like the SAME story.  We have demons who aren’t especially fond of hell and are crazy drivers, an innocent young boy who is witness to the gates of hell being opened and his ragtag friends, threatening harbingers of the apocalypse having […]

The issue has always been land

The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King

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Thomas King is a dual American-Canadian citizen of mixed heritage (Wikipedia lists Cherokee, German and Greek backgrounds), and he identifies strongly with his Cherokee heritage.  He is also quite the storyteller, in the best possible way. King starts his “account” of North American history by refusing to label it as a history- noting, in fact that all histories are “stories we tell about the past”.  He provides a sweeping overview of Indian-White relations in the US and Canada, in more or less chronological (though expressly […]

“… the war had been on for a long time now, and I could not even remember a time when the war had not been on.”

Fly Away Home by Christine Nöstlinger

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This book follows a 9-year-old girl living in Vienna with her family during the last days of WWII. Bombs are raining down on the city, food and other necessities are hard to find, and people are afraid of the approaching Russian army. This is pretty much an autobiographical account by Nöstlinger who was one of the most beloved and acclaimed authors of children’s and young adult’s books in Austria. This is, of course, a heavy subject to tackle in a children’s book, but Nöstlinger manages […]

“The important thing about Margaret Wise Brown is…” (cbr11bingo – true story)

The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown by Mac Barnett

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“The important thing about Margaret Wise Brown is that she wrote books.” Mac Barnett, if you haven’t spent any time with him, is one of the most delightful children’s book authors of our time.  If I summed him up in one insignificant word, I’d say “funny” because it mostly captures the breadth of his work, from his silly picture books to Wimpy-Kid readalike chapter books. But in his biography of predecessor Margaret Wise Brown, he showcases a positively stunning simplicity of language, a thoughtful exploration […]

He Had a Pretty Good Reason

Ghosted by Rosie Walsh

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BINGO: Summer Read Best for: Fans of the Liane Moriarty school or interwoven stories with a serious mystery at the center. In a nutshell: Sarah and Eddie spent an amazing week together before he left for a quick holiday. She hasn’t heard from him since, even though they basically declared their love for each other. Is he just a jerk, or is there something else going on? Worth quoting: N/A Why I chose it: Wandered into a bookshop looking for Nine Perfect Strangers, but it’s […]

Organizing To Make Work Life Better

Working the Phones: Control and Resistance in Call Centres by Jamie Woodcock

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BINGO: Award Winner: 2016 Labor History Best Book Best for: Those who enjoy a good case study / ethnography and are interested in the state of organizing today. In a nutshell: Academic Jamie Woodcock is interested in labour organizing and, as his PhD dissertation spent time in a call center to learn more about the work — and the resistance — taking place there. Worth quoting: “‘There were all sorts of rules.’ For example, ‘hanging coats on the back of your chair was banned, little […]



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