Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

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I really did love this combination of interesting facts about plants, trees, and animals linked to the author’s memories. Nezhukumatathil begins the book describing a catalpa tree, a tree that she links to her memories of living in Kansas while her mother worked at a hospital. Most of the animals and plant/trees she recalls are often linked to her constant moving as a child and then from her moves as an adult with her husband and two sons. Some of the memories linked are sad, […]

Filled my Earth Day square! (Double bingo)

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

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CBR16 Bingo: Earth Day (while this novella is set off-Earth, a lot of the plot involves conservation efforts to try to reintroduce healthy biodiversity on Earth) Mossa is investigating the mysterious disappearance, most likely a suicide, on one of the human colonies on Jupiter. Mossa discovers that the missing man worked at the colony’s university, where conveniently for her and her further investigation, Mossa’s ex-girlfriend is a scholar working with others to try to recreate the ecosystems of Earth before it collapsed. Pleiti is surprised […]

“With the mystery genre booming in print and on screen at present, I have had no problem satisfying my cravings for crime.”

Gardening Can Be Murder: How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers by Marta McDowell

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Are you in the mood for a light and breezy book about how gardens and gardeners feature in crime and mystery writing? If so, I have the book for you. I am not a gardener, in fact my great grandparents who ran a greenhouse would be shocked at my inability to understand the finer points of plants and their needs and five years of working on a living history farm did not improve the situation. But it did introduce me to the author of Gardening […]

Dr Strangelove, My Favorite Skynet, Jonathan Swan.

The Red Queen by Isobelle Carmody

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Apologies, this is going to be a long one.  It took me a while to get here. After close to thirty years and seven volumes, I finally made it to The Red Queen –  the final entry in The Obernewtyn Chronicles. And I rather wish it wasn’t. This isn’t just some kind disappointment at hitting the end of the series, this is also me lamenting that we didn’t get an eighth volume—or a more hardline editor.  Let’s start with the positives: the first half of […]

Night Is Dark and Full of Scare-rs

A Ticket to the Boneyard by Lawrence Block

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Read as part of CBR16Bingo: Earth Day. But I’m replacing the Earth Day square with a “re-read” square. Earth Day is just not a subject that interests me and I have no books at home or on my TBR that would fit a flexible definition of this square. But that’s not a knock on the person who created the Bingo sheet because they created a lot of otherwise awesome squares! Going through my Matthew Scudder re-reads, I realized this would be a tough one. But […]

Jump on the Earth Train

Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider by Jessica Lanan

The Day the River Caught Fire: How the Cuyahoga River Exploded and Ignited the Earth Day Movement by Barry Wittenstein

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Science and history can be a fun subject for kids. However, it always seems that people hit on the same historical event or scientific areas. Therefore, I am interested when I find books that do not cover the “same old same old,” or find a fresh take on an old favorite. While both books are available, I read them via online reader copies. When I saw Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider, My first thought was, “Oh a spider.” My […]



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