Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Jesus, who would want to read about a failed old nun, with her stipend, and second-hand shoes.”

Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd

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What a kooky mystery book. My mom was visiting for the last few days and she and I love to get our blankets and read (which we indulged in doing) so she was perfectly placed to ask me what was going on within the fun orange cover of this book. The quick logline doesn’t really capture the vibe of the book, though, and I don’t know whether I sold her on it or not. Murder at Gulls Nest features Nora, a former Carmelite nun who has left her order after three decades and is on the hunt for a […]

A Perfect Way to Celebrate the Movie’s 40th Birthday

"What Do You Mean, Murder?” Clue and the Making of a Cult Classic by John Hatch

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My apologies to anyone who wishes they didn’t have to know that this year is the 40th anniversary of the movie Clue. 🙂 One of the Read Harder tasks this year is to read a book about a piece of media you love, and I love Clue. It’s one of my absolute comfort watches, so hunting down this book became a priority.   Author John Hatch also views the movie as one of his favorites, and possibly more of a favorite than he realized before Covid-19 changed the way we […]

1930s Cinema History

Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema; 1930-1934 by Thomas Doherty

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Are you looking for a primer on how the enforcement of what became known as the Hayes Code on the movie business in the 1930s impacted what came before and after 1934? I might have the book for you. In 1999 Thomas Doherty published what might be considered the go to book on early 1930s Hollywood, deep diving the various social forces at work and how they effected the creative output of the artists (and businesspeople) in Hollywood.   The Code was adopted in 1930 but was without any enforcement measures. By 1934, however, the enforcement was […]

“If there is a silver lining to suffering trauma, it is the opportunity to learn about one’s self, to trail mental fingers over a previously unrecognized core of inner strength.”

A Libertarian Walks into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

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Sometimes a title just does it for you. A Libertarian Walks into a Bear – as a title – makes me smile every time. Make of that what you will. Its author’s writing style is also sly and occasionally funny which works to balance out the serious nature of a lot of what is being discussed in the narrative.   Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling is a local New Hampshire journalist who gets pulled into the world of Grafton, NH and its story of libertarians and bears through what […]

“So long as I have questions to which there are no answers, I shall go on writing.”

The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector, Benjamin Moser (translator)

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 The Hour of the Star is a book that climbed onto this year’s TBR by the Read Harder Challenge. One of this year’s tasks is to read a work of literary fiction by a BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled author. So, I went to books already on my radar to see if any fit the bill and sure enough Clarice Lispector’s final book did just that (Lispector was severely injured in a fire in her 40s and nearly lost her hand). It also was a book […]

Spending a little extra time with some characters I love.

Ghosts: The Button House Archives by Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond

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Everyone has their comfort entertainments and one of mine is the television show Ghosts. It started with the BBC version which aired 2019-2023 and I think I’ve watched it at least annually since I discovered it in the early part of COVID lockdowns. Ghosts: The Button House Archives is the kind of series companion book that is fan-service, but in an enjoyable “a fun bit of extra content that deepens some of the jokes and visual gags of the show while sneaking in some additional […]



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