Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“So much of her life had been about escaping, in dreams and books and out of windows, that she didn’t quite know how to stay.”

The Geographer's Map to Romance by India Holton

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Buzzword Cover Challenge 25: Monochrome CBR17 Bingo: Green (A book with a green cover) Official plot summary, because I finished the book in early April, and perimenopause is doing my powers of recall no favours: Professor Elodie Tarrant is an expert in magic disasters. Nothing fazes her—except her own personal disaster, that Professor Gabriel Tarrant, the grumpy, unfriendly man she married for convenience a year ago, whom she secretly loves. Gabriel is also an expert in magic disasters. And nothing fazes him either—except the walking, […]

Snarky – But Educational – Fun

An Atlas of Extinct Countries: The Remarkable (And Occasionally Ridiculous) Stories of 48 Nations That Fell Off the Map by Gideon Defoe

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Best for: People who enjoy clever bits of history, and geography. In a nutshell: Defoe explores the origins and collapse of 48 countries. Worth quoting: “Note: if your plan involves the British coming to your rescue at any point, then it is a Bad Plan. Can’t emphasise this enough.” “…countries are just daft stories we tell each other. They’re all equally implausible once you get up close.” Why I chose it: I’m a sucker for geography and weird historical facts. What it left me feeling: […]

Rocks matter, too!

I’m Trying to Love Rocks by Bethany Barton

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I was that kid who liked looking at rocks. Not geodes (though I had a few) or anything special, I just liked rocks. I figure it was the shapes, and colors (though I’m sure my family would say they matched the ones in my head). I have always been a visual person. When older I liked crystals (hey! It was the 90’s… for those who were there, you get it), but never got into the science of rocks. Not until I was much older was […]

Geopolitics 101

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Best for: Anyone interested in a basic understanding of how the earth has influenced politics across the world. In a nutshell: Author Tim Marshall breaks the world into ten regions and gives an overview of how different geographic and cultural components (rivers, deserts, mountains, harbors, tribes) have affected different political decisions. Worth quoting: “The better your relationship with Russia, the less you pay for energy; for example, Finland get a better deal than the Baltic States.” “China has locked itself into the global economy. If […]

Good for Traveling, Not for Entertainment

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I can remember back to middle school when we’d get the Scholastic book order catalogs, I’d skip over the Goosebumps, Encyclopedia Brown, and other stock middle school series, to get right to the section on geography.  Be it a book on flags of the world, a specific region of the world, it didn’t matter; I wanted it!  When the book would arrive I’d race home and begin absorbing all of the information it had to offer. This turned into travel lust as a teenager and […]



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