I broke the cardinal rule of being a book nerd. I saw the movie first. Let me plead my case first: I had every intention of reading The Martian prior to it’s theatrical release; I had my name on the wait list at the library but by late August I was still sitting in the low 30s. After my sister declared I had to read it sooner rather than later I went ahead and bought a copy. But then Careless People took forever to read […]
Lilli, Greta and Einar
Like The Aviator’s Wife, The Danish Girl is based on real people and real events but is a fictional account of what really happened. Einar Wegener was an artist, who in 1920s Denmark, leads a simple life with his wife, Greta, who is also an artist. One day Greta asks her husband to sit in for a portrait when her female model has to cancel. Although Einar is a bit reluctant, he puts on the pantyhose & ladies shoes and steps into the beginning of […]
The Anti Gus and Hazel
I had not heard of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl until I saw the previews for the movie that was recently released. I probably won’t see this one until it hits Netflix or HBO; but that is more my husband’s aversion to indie films and less a testament to the novel. Greg Gaines is a high school senior who has tried his whole academic career to fly under the radar of his school’s social hierarchy. Everyone “kind of” likes him and “sort of” […]
Oscar Bait
I heard about Still Alice throughout Julianne Moore’s Academy Awards campaign. I’ve always liked to read the books movies (particularly critcally acclaimed movies) are based on- even if I never get around to watching the final film. Still Alice is the story of Alice Howland: a happily married, mother of three. She is a professor at Harvard University whose story is told as her memory declines following an Early Onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis. As her memory fades the narration becomes less focused, the passages shorter and […]
The Hundred Foot Journey to Mediocrity
Happy New Year Cannonballers! So my “official” goal is a full cannonball, since we can’t elect for a higher one through the website, but I’m shooting for 1 1/2 this year so time to get moving. I really want to add more “adult fiction” to my repertoire this year, since last year was mostly YA and memoirs, but unfortunately I started with a pretty ho-hum entry in the field. The Hundred-Foot Journey chews through about 40 years in less than 300 pages and therefore leaves […]
this is where i leave you
Hi guys! So I took a big chunk of the summer off from my Cannonball for a variety of reasons, most prominently the giant time suck that is buying a house. But I’m back, and thankful my first review in almost two months is for a book I truly enjoyed. This is Where I Leave You is a book many people have heard of in recent months due to the movie that came out last week based on the book (staring my girlfriend Tiny Fey […]