Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A little history–with many asides and jokes

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell

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Many months ago, I was getting ready for a short road trip to New Mexico and Texas, and I needed something to listen to. I’ve read a couple of history books by Sarah Vowell, and I enjoyed her take and irreverent style. When I saw, Lafayette in the Somewhat United States (2015) by Vowell, I decided to read it. Before reading this book, everything I knew about Lafayette was from Hamilton. In fact, I imagined Daveed Diggs, the original Lafayette from Hamilton, as I read this book. First, I […]

Mixed Bag of Mixed Bags

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

Steel and Other Stories by Richard Matheson

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

Going Solo by Roald Dahl

Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert Heinlein

V2 by Robert Harris

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The Wordy Shipmates – 4/5 Stars I wonder how many people know that if you’re from parts of the country, you’re basically not taught about the Puritans at all. You get the same kind of education that Sarah Vowell talks about early in this book with discussions about “the first Thanksgiving” and plenty of other oblique, but not entirely in depth look into the early colonialization of New England. In the South, you’re mostly taught about Jamestown, or your own respective colony (if you had […]

Somewhat Relevant

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell

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Sarah Vowell brings history to life. She presents stories of history as though you’re her neighbor and the craziest thing just happened to her and she just has to tell you about it. It’s fun even when it’s tragic. What I really enjoyed about Lafayette in the Somewhat United States  was the connection between Lafayette’s actions and our current situation. Drawing these lines from our founding fathers to policies that are still in place and the ways they affect us is a powerful tool that reminds […]

I wanted more about the assassins, less about contemporary American politics

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

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CBR12 BINGO: Pandemic (read whatever you want) BINGO: Gateway, Orange, Nostalgia, Pandemic, Shelfie When I opened this book, I had in my mind that it would be an easy 4-star review. Sarah Vowell is an entertaining writer, a passionate historian, and an American patriot, so I was excited to read this historical travel journal that has been on my TBR list for years. To sweeten the deal, it also promised glimpses into presidential assassins Charles Guiteau and Leon Czolgosz, who assassinated Presidents Garfield and McKinely, respectively, and […]

now is the winter of our discontent

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

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The Party Cloudy Patriot is a loose collection of essays cobbled into a narrative of sorts, and that narrative revolves around patriotism in current political times while framing through the lenses of the past. In this case, Sarah Vowell was living in the fresh hell of 2001; the country was still reeling from the disastrous election cycle that falsely awarded W the win, Clinton’s impeachment was still fresh and Al Gore’s know-it-all pigeonhole could not save the Left, and a day in September changed us in […]

Stolen History

Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell

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Going into Unfamiliar Fishes, my knowledge of Hawaii was sparse, to say the least. I can’t say that we covered any Hawaiian history in school- not even that it is our “newest” state. Information came in fits and starts; a friend of mine teaches Hula through VSA, I was familiar with Captain Cooks adventures (and one serious misadventure) in the archipelago, and I caught an old episode of No Reservations. Embarrassing, I know. I had nothing to write home about. Enter Sarah Vowell and her “almost oral […]



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