Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Making me feel glad to feel the wind on my face

Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane

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It seems that the things I’m most fascinated by are those that also frighten me the most. Afraid of the deep sea, I’ll spend months reading about naval horrors, devour tales of explorers (whether they survived or not) while also preferring to not really leave my house, and frequently consider booking a trip through the Paris Catacombs despite being somewhat claustrophobic with a face-clawing terror of actually being underground. Perhaps that’s why I found this book so deeply interesting – an exploration of places I […]

Redshirts by John Scalzi is silly, fun, and full of adventure.

Redshirts by John Scalzi

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The short version of the plot is that a group of junior officers on a spaceship realize that members of their rank tend to die when on away missions with senior officers. Anyone familiar with the original flavor of Star Trek will recognize the setup.  The book starts with ensigns Andrew Dahl and Jimmy Hanson meeting other newly assigned ensigns Maia Duvall, Jasper Hester, and Finn as they wait for the shuttle to take them to their newly-assigned ship. The five lucky ensigns have been […]

The economy of art

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art by Don Thompson

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Ever since Maurizio Cattelan artwork, the banana that was stuck to a wall with duct tape, was sold for 120K I’ve been fascinated by the art world and the way the art economy works. This mostly meant that I’ve been trying to find information that is somewhat accessible outside of the art world. The $12 Million Stuffed Shark, is probably one of the better resources on the subjects that I found (there is also a pretty good documentary on Netflix called “Blurred Line”).  For the […]

Attention all people who love Jane Austen, I have a good book for you.

Jane Austen: The Secret Radical by Helena Kelly

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I was just sort of expecting a fun book where the author points out passages in Austen’s work that adds credibility to the idea that Jane Austen was a radical thinker for her time. And that does occur here. (Radical, by the way, has a bit of a different usage here, in that it mostly means someone who is open to new ideas, and to rejecting the old if that is the right thing to do. That word has a negative association now that isn’t […]

The Secret, Book, and Scone Society is a good mystery but maybe not for me

The Secret, Book, and Scone Society by Ellery Adams

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The Secret, Book, and Scone Society is a cozy mystery about four women trying to solve a murder in the small town of Miracle Springs, North Carolina. The water from Miracle Springs is reported to have healing powers so people flock to the town. The main character, Nora Pennington, owns the local bookstore and is a “bibliotherapist”. As a bibliotherapist, Nora listens to her customers’ troubles and then prescribes a series of books. If the books are read in the prescribed order, they should help […]

A memoir that will send shivers up your spine and possibly make you cry.

Out of the Forest by Gregory P. Smith

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I’m finding it hard to start writing about this book.  It’s an incredible story of a life transformed that makes me thankful for my calm and ‘normal’ upbringing and leaves me wondering if I would ever have the strength to overcome the harrowing upbringing that Gregory P. Smith endured. I’m almost brought to tears when I think about how he was dropped off by his mum at an orphanage at ten years old, separated from his dear sisters, and immediately started suffering verbal and physical […]



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