Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Death is the engine that keeps us running, giving us the motivation to achieve, learn, love, and create.”

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

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CBR17 Bingo: Review – I first came across Caitlin Doughty and her books through numerous reviewers on Goodreads. Caitlin Doughty had been long fascinated with death, but when she started working at a crematory, she soon found herself more interested in the question of why death in America has become so distant from the general public. I am maybe not the right audience for Doughty’s message about the loss of intimacy and ritual in the American way of death. I am a Hindu, and we […]

Putting ideas about the past to the test

Dinner with King Tut by Sam Kean

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CBR 17 BINGO: TBR, because whenever Sam Kean comes out with a new book, I add it to my TBR BINGO: Play, Purple, TBR, Diaspora, Culture In the introduction to Dinner with King Tut, Kean confesses that he always found archaeology to be a bit dry. It should be thrilling, discovering the secrets of past civilizations, but he usually finds archaeological sites to be a letdown, with “scores of sunburned men and women sprawled in the dirt, dusting off broken pot shards with toothbrushes.” But […]

We can still talk about summer books

Summer Solstice Wish by Kate Allen Fox and Elisa Paganelli

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Recently I found an online reader copy of a title called Summer Solstice Wish by Kate Allen Fox and Elisa Paganelli. They have a prequel or companion Winter Solstice Wish which I remember reading, but was not WOWed by it, but felt that it was enjoyable to read. However, I tried to read Summer, and could not finish it. Perhaps I was in the wrong mood for it. Perhaps I was not the reader for it. Perhaps I was thinking of Halloween and summer was […]

A Giant of Scientific Thought and Deep Humanity

The Demon-haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan

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Bingo: TBR. This has been on my TBR for ages. [T]he history of science–by far the most successful claim to knowledge accessible to humans–teaches that the most we can hope for is successive improvement in our understanding, learning from our mistakes, an asymptotic approach to the Universe, but with the proviso that absolute certainty will always elude us.” In the midst of these terrible times, one of my greatest despairs is the damage being done to scientific research. In an effort to soothe myself, I […]

No if and or butts about it, these books are from top to bottom fantastic

Whose Furry Butt Is That? by Christianne Jones

Butt or Face? V03 Super Goss Butts by Kari Lavelle

Butt or Face? Volume 4: Ador-A-Butts! by Kari Lavelle

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There are several books in my “naughty but funny” category when it comes to the “is it  butt or face” question in the genre of children’s science books. This time Whose Furry Butt Is That? gets down to the bottom of things and asks the hard questions. Or the question of can you tell who this butt belongs too? There are hints, clues and photographic images. Things are funny and educational. It will get your younger reader interested while they giggle (mommy/daddy/teacher said BUTT!). In […]

Not the right chemistry for me

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

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Bingo 12: School Some of the more significant moments especially towards the beginning of Lessons in Chemistry, as well as some later generally consistent episodes related to school work and learning put this one in the School spot. It’s no secret that being female in academia has been a challenge for a significant part of history, and Lessons in Chemistry starts with the worst parts of the 1950s-1960s horrific treatment of women in higher education (seriously, there should be a CW for the assault scene). […]



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