Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Rich People Problems

You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

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  I needed a bit of a palate cleanser, and short story collections almost always fit that bill nicely. I had already read Prep by the same author years ago. I remember liking it, but not really identifying with the characters very well, they were a little too outside my personal experience. I had kind of the same feeling with some of the stories in this collection. A lot of them are really great, and overall I did like this collection, but Sittenfeld does tend […]

“There’s no shame in devoting yourself to another person, as long as he devotes himself to you in return.”

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

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Last year I unexpectedly enjoyed Pride and Prejudice during Cannonball Bingo; I decided to read Curtis Sittenfeld’s modern retelling because I have enjoyed several other books she’s written. Unfortunately this adaptation is often times hampered by its premise and would have been better served not trying to fit so tightly into an Austen shaped boxed. While I usually find myself screaming at film adaptations that stray too far from the original I actually wish Sittenfeld been a bit looser with her translation like Clueless, another Austen retelling,or She’s the Man, […]

I had no idea, of course, that of all the feelings of my youth that would pass, it was this one, of an abundance of time so great as to routinely be unfillable, that would vanish with the least ceremony

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You Think It, I’ll Say It – 4/5 Stars You’ll see in my second review here that I was going to start this one off with a book I really didn’t like, but then luckily I read a book I really did like. Curtis Sittenfeld rubs people the wrong way sometimes and she also sometimes rubs people the right way. I think a major reason for this is that this book is a pretty accurate portrayal of middle-class whiteness without apology toward or away from […]

Three potentially good stories smashed into one mediocre novel

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“She would say that we create our own reality-that the truth, ultimately, is what we choose to believe.” Daisy and Violet Shramm are identical twin sisters who grew up in St. Louis to an ambivalent mother and a much older father. They are also psychic. In the more present day Daisy, now going by Kate, is a stay at home mom to two young kids and the wife of a college professor, Jeremy Tucker, who teaches geology at the local university. She has renounced her […]

Y’all, Reese Witherspoon has a book club!

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It’s hard to believe that the girl from Cruel Intentions and Sweet Home Alabama* would grow into a feminist, taste making mogul but here were are and Reese Witherspoon is one of my favorite people to watch for their next move. She has optioned countless books into film and television projects, many I’ve already read & loved, and I seek out a lot of her recommendations. All of this is to say I was thrilled to discover Reese has an Instagram book club! May’s book club selection was Curtis Sittenfeld’s You […]

Pride & Prejudice in Ohio

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As a general rule I try to avoid sequels and modernizations of classic literature when possible (i.e, when it’s advertised glaringly). Sometimes though, the story is so good (Pride & Prejudice) and by a writer I have enjoyed (Curtis Sittenfeld), I can’t resist. Such is the case with Eligible, Sittenfeld’s go at a modern retelling of Austen’s best (imho). The crucial elements of the story are still there. Lizzy Bennet meets and despises haughty, rich Fitzwilliam Darcy. She has four sisters, most of which are […]



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