Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Two books about the brain (kinda)

Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains by Helen Thomson

This Is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society by Kathleen McAuliffe

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I’ve had a couple of brain books sitting on my shelf for a little while, one (Unthinkable) courtesy of a local Little Free Library, and one (This Is Your Brain on Parasites) courtesy of my husband wanting to qualify for free shipping on an online order. I decided to do a “brain dump” in January, and while neither of these books exactly blew off my Bombas, both contained enough interesting information that I would recommend them if you’re in the mood for some light science. […]

More Murderbot!

Rogue Protocol: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

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These are the third and fourth books in The Murderbot Diaries and, like the first two, they are full of intrigue, action and snarky humor. Murderbot, a rogue SecUnit who has been purchased and freed by one of its clients, is still at large, having snuck away from client/guardian Dr. Mensah in order to try to figure out why it murdered a bunch of humans on a previous job. MB’s memory was wiped by the company that owned it, but armed with incredible tech, hacking […]

“I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret.”

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

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Before I started watching the Shadow and Bone Netflix series, I knew I wanted to read Leigh Bardugo’s books. They were on my radar when they came out but by then I was kind of burned out on YA fantasy (perish the thought!) Then over the summer, I started reading Sarah J. Maas’s fairy catnip situation (A Court of Thorns and Roses book series aka ACOTAR) which jumpstarted my dormant magical world-loving heart again. So I picked up the first Shadow and Bone book at the library and began plowing through […]

Sexy, gay version of an American falling in love with a British royal

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

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Red, White & Royal Blue has been on my to read list for a while as Cannonballers have steadily given it positive praise.  Happy to report it did not disappoint.  I do enjoy an enemies to lovers story and McQuiston delivers with Alex Claremont Diaz, son of the first female President of the United States, and Henry, Prince of Wales.  Set in a fictional 2020 (that I would very much like to trade for our own 2020), Alex is in his final year of college, […]

Are Giants Scarier than Climate Change?

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block

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If I made a short list of the books that mattered to me as a teenager in the late 90’s, the Weetzie Bat series by Francesca Lia Block would be at the top. I have vivid memories of finding their brightly colored covers in the teen section of the library and checking them out over and over to read her dreamy, magical stories of life in a fantasy LA. Love in the Time of Global Warming is a much later novel of hers, coming out […]

Good advice to start the new year: Workers, unite! Take a break! Relax! Read a book!

In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell, with Bradley Trevor Greive

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Bertrand Russell is considered one of the finest academic minds of the 20th century. He was a true polymath who excelled in philosophy, mathematics, and logic. Born an aristocrat (an actual Earl, for heaven’s sake)  and educated at Cambridge, Russell nevertheless championed social causes such as pacifism and rights for homosexuals. In 1935, he published In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays, in which he argues for, among other things, a four-hour workday. The essay “In Praise of Idleness” is barely 5000 words long. However, […]



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