Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Write What You Know

My Dark Places by James Ellroy

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Read as part of CBR11Bingo: Biography/Memoir As I said a few weeks ago in my review of This Storm, I recently met James Ellroy at a book signing. I confess to feeling some intimidation. I’ve heard many stories over the years of Ellroy’s abrasive and forward personality in public. I shared in a social media group about getting ready to meet Ellroy and one guy shared a story about him fat shaming a kid at a book signing. Granted, it was hearsay but in line with […]

“Now I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child—What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end.”

Becoming by Michelle Obama

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This was a pick for my IRL book club in the spring, and I’m so glad! I don’t know if I ever would have picked it up otherwise, due to my avoidance of both political books and memoirs, unless they come suuuper highly recommended. (Sidenote: I love my IRL book club. It’s like having a bimonthly Galentine’s Day.) Mostly, Michelle Obama is such a good writer! She is t a l e n t e d. Her book also fits into my memoir sweet spot, […]

I nearly cried myself dry

Dance with the Devil: A Memoir of Murder and Loss by David Bagby

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If you’ve seen Dear Zachary, you’ll already know of the harrowing case that is contained within this book. I haven’t seen the film but was gifted this, and can now safely say that I will continue to avoid the film for fear of crying myself into a dessicated shell of my former self. Dance With the Devil is the memoir of David Bagby, father to Andrew and grandfather to Zachary, whose lives were both cruelly stolen by Dr Shirley Turner. It’s a howl of grief, […]

“We are all of us more complicated than the roles we are assigned in the stories other people tell”

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

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A couple of months ago I read American Like Me and focused my review on how the various contributors wrote and reflected on the way their lives hopped boundaries or existed on the edge of multiple cultures. In Educated Tara Westover is doing a deep dive of her own, very personal, journey of leaving one culture (that of her father) and exploring the cultures of more mainstream Mormonism and mainstream America. It is not a perfect book, and to my mind Westover chose an interesting […]

You’re in a Cult — Call your dad! And other life advice from Karen and Georgia

Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

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Where my Murderinos at? Part self-help book (kinda), part memoir (mostly), and all kinds of things you didn’t know about Georgia and Karen (and probably weren’t afraid to ask), Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered is a breezy, easy read with some serious points underlying all the humor — a lot like the “My Favorite Murder” podcast only written down in a version you can hold! We have gone from living inside your headphones to pouring ourselves out onto the page like a couple of […]

This is America

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land

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This was a tough book to get through. Reading about Stephanie Land’s experiences of trying to parent her daughter while dealing with being homeless and broke was eye-opening. The main reason why I didn’t give this five stars though is that I wish that Land had touched more upon on how the country looks down upon those that they see as stealing (immigrants) are just lazy and don’t want to work (POC). She brings it up here and there about how terribly she sees other […]



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