Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Nothing wrong with seeking out things that you know you’ll like

Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

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Oooh I just realized this makes my 52nd reviewed work of the year and my first Cannonball!!! Look, this is not a useful review by any stretch. If the following comment makes you nod and say, EXACTLY: There’s this part in book six where Harry holds Quidditch tryouts for Gryffindors only and is like, “Yeah, I don’t know any of these people.” HOW? There are 150 of you tops and you all live in a tower together and eat treacle tart family style every day! […]

Actually Laughing Out Loud

Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

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Best for: Anyone who watched blockbusters from the 80s-early 2000s and enjoys a fair bit of of honest snark. In a nutshell: Lindy West, who started as a film critic, revisits a bunch of films and comments on them. Worth quoting: ARG SO MUCH From the Harry Potter review: “Even in the moment when his whole family is being terrorized by a giant, fatboy Dudley can’t stop himself from plunging his face directly into the cake and omph momph gromph skromph. As a fat woman, […]

Stay angry even when he’s gone

The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West

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I wonder if I’d read this last year what my take would have been. Lindy West is a bitingly funny author–there were parts of this where I was LITERALLY laughing so hard that my stomach hurt–but a decent portion of her book is a reaction to the election of DJTrump to the presidency. And, now that the aforementioned (and will no longer be mentioned) man is gone, spending my hard earned leisure time reading about the whys and wherefores that led us to him seems […]

I rate this book 9/10 DVDs of The Fugitive.

Shit, Actually: The Definitive 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

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Not all of the jokes landed for me, but most did! I found myself arguing with her about some things, but also agreeing with a lot of it. (I like Love, Actually! I do, can’t help it.) Mostly I was just very entertained. Take this excerpt from her Lion King essay: “So then [Scar] decides to just murder Simba and resume his position as Mufasa’s number two. Say what you will about Scar, but when the dude has an idea, he commits. Simba isn’t just […]

Why is, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” the go-to small talk we make with children?

Shrill by Lindy West

The Witches are Coming by Lindy West

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Shrill 4/5 Stars If you’ve seen the show, you’re already pre-disposed to like this book. If you like this book, that might well have been the reason you watched the show. Regardless, this is a very good memoir, with a clearly defined, already tempered and recognized voice. And I happened to read hear the audiobook version, and that version is good because so much of the book is carefully written in Lindy West’s voice, and she reads the audiobook. While this book touches a little […]

“So fine, if you insist. This is a witch hunt. We’re witches, and we’re hunting you.”

The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West

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This was great — it’s angry and funny and an excellent follow up to Shrill. Also a reminder that I need to start watching the series based on Shrill! “I think we can all agree that this fully checks out and that indeed it is men who are the true victims of witch hunts. Which they invented. To kill women.” West launches right into the thick of things in her first essay — how the repercussions of the #MeToo movement have a lot of men worried […]



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