Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Not sure if it sparked joy, but it did provide me with some handy tips

Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

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About seven months ago, my husband and I moved temporarily into a small apartment while our home undergoes major renovations. Most of our “stuff” is in boxes in our garage awaiting the day we move back in and unpack. I’ve been looking forward to that event with a mixture of excitement and horror. Remodeling presents us with a clean slate–a chance to organize ourselves and our belongings in a way that will be efficient and aesthetically pleasing. To be frank, I’m worried I’m gonna fuck […]

Pretty Pictures and Clever Ideas

The Home Edit Life: The Complete Guide to Organizing Absolutely Everything at Work, at Home, and On the Go by Clea Shearer & Joanna Teplin

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CBR13BINGO: Self-Care (organizing calms me and brings me joy) Best for: People who like to organize all the things. People who like to look at gorgeous pictures of organized things. In a nutshell: Clea and Joanna of The Home Edit fame expand beyond their first book to offer tips for organizing other areas of life (there’s a section on pets!). Worth quoting: “For those who claim their family/roommate/partner will never get on board with an organized house, we present you with the silverware drawer. Every […]

A fun introduction to tarot especially if you want to read for others

Kitchen Table Tarot by Melissa Cynova

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This is another entry in the Kitchen Table series by Melissa Cynova. This book, Kitchen Table Tarot, is an introduction to tarot cards and tarot reading. Cynova breaks the book down into three main parts: an introduction to tarot and tarot reading in general, her interpretation of the cards and how she reads, and a guide on how to do readings for other people. Overall, I felt that the the first and third parts had enough overlap that having multiple chapters at the start and end […]

Not a bad introduction to what magic could be in your life

Kitchen Table Magic by Melissa Cynova

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Written as an introduction to witchcraft and magic, Cynova breaks her book Kitchen Table Magic into two parts: the first is an overview of what magic is and the various parts of what witchcraft are. She gives an overview of intention, grounding, spells, divination, etc. The second half is a collection of spells and rituals for various situations. Cynova presents herself as a hard polytheist with a belief in the supernatural. PROS: While Cynova herself is a supernatural-believer she has moments where she recognizes that a lot […]

Gardening to Victory

Gardens for Victory by Jean Marie Putnam & Llyod C. Cosper

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In a box my grandmother hadn’t opened for probably fifty years, she found a swath of old family documents, and in it was this book, Gardens for Victory, a comprehensive  guide to teach Americans how to  supplement their ration cards during World War II with sustainable gardening. We have no idea how the little pamphlet never got thrown away; the spine was very bent and the pages dog-eared, meaning my great-grandparents probably followed its instructions during the war for their own gardens. The fact that it had […]

How to do it (better than you) (CBR12Bingo2: how to)

Cooking by Michael Pollan

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Man, this is a good contender for the color square too because boy howdy can Michael Pollan’s writing turn to purple prose at times. I love reading about food, much to my coworker’s confusion, and particularly books like this, that view cooking as a whole rather than a collection of recipes. I know that reading about food is like dancing about architecture, to borrow from Frank Zappa, but when Pollan waxes poetic at times I wanna roll my eyes. It doesn’t help that Pollan can […]



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