Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“She was beginning to see how quickly something completely normal could suddenly seem sinister, if you chose to see it that way.”

A Better Man by Louise Penny

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It has long been my habit to try to read each Inspector Gamache book in the month or season it is set, and by happy coincidence A Better Man, the fifteenth book in the series, is set in April. Delayed spring, occasional flooding, and a final snowstorm are all hallmarks of April in my neck of the woods, so I felt right at home with Gamache and the residents of Three Pines. Structurally we are with Gamache and company for one single case, with stunningly […]

“Shame is the enemy of functioning.”

How to Keep House While Drowning: 31 Days of Compassionate Help by K.C. Davis

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I’ve spent the past few years unpacking a lot about myself, doing the work in therapy, reading up on things that sounds like perhaps they are me. In that I’ve also started dealing with the fact that I struggle with care tasks – what you might more easily recognize as “chores”. I always have, I don’t remember a time when completing care tasks came easily, or instinctually. And, when I’m in a bad headspace it all gets so much worse. But, I need to stop […]

“From the beginning we have wandered. To this day, we wander still, but for all our travels we are not lost . We fly with courage and will undying.”

Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) by Becky Chambers

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It has been quite a while since I’ve had a truly lovely reading experience. I should have known that Becky Chambers would deliver the goods. When I read To Be Taught, if Fortunate in September of 2019 (godtopus I missed regular library service in 2020 and am glad to have it back) I was simply astounded at what it accomplished, and it was from that time my favorite of Chambers’ works, with A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet a very close second (I […]

Unfortunately this one falls short for me

Sakina's Restaurant by Aasif Mandvi

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In trying to get out of my reading slump I went back to my old Audible library to see what was hanging out there that I hadn’t listened to yet. One of the books there was Sakina’s Restaurant by Aasif Mandvi. I thought I was getting a straightforward short story not a recording of a one man show, and that effected my experience, I think. There’s a way you tell a story when you are going to be in front of an audience versus when […]

I miss traveling and am daydreaming through food.

The Irish Pub Cookbook by Margaret M. Johnson, Leigh Beisch (photographer)

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It had been my intention to review this cookbook on St. Patrick’s Day, but my timings were a bit off. So here we are a few days later, but my positive experience with this book works year-round. I really like The Irish Pub Cookbook because beyond its quality recipes it is a book you can read. Placed throughout are informational sections about a variety of pubs all over Ireland as well as the recipes. It’s a celebration of over 70 pub classics as well as […]

Work Reading: Fashion Edition

Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900 by Joan Severa

Vintage Fashion: Collecting and Wearing Designer Classics, 1900-1990 by Emma Baxter-Wright

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I’ve been preparing at work for a program discussing women’s fashion 1830 – 1930 for International Women’s Day/Women’s History month. For me it has been an excuse to pull some pieces out of storage and get them new photographs and update their records, as well as just working on something I find interesting. I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the past decade getting conversant on the changing women’s silhouette during that century of time (which is our primary interpretive period) and honestly – […]



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