Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I am the wrong audience for this book.

How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters by Michael Bungay Stanier

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CBR17 Bingo: Using the Free block for the Red square In the next couple of months, I’m fortunate to have some downtime as my busiest season is over. During this time, I want to try to relax, catch up on stuff I shoved to the side, and enjoy the slower pace. I also want to work on some of my long term projects. However, as these projects are daunting, I’m deciding which approach is the best. I want to make meaningful strides without burning myself […]

Semper Iocosus

Grit, Spit, and Never Quit by Rob Riggle

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Before reading this book, Rob Riggle was like the friend of a good friend. I enjoyed my time with him on The Daily Show, Bear Grylls, Angie Tribeca, New Girl, etc. But Riggle wasn’t my friend yet. This book, to continue the metaphor, is the first time Riggle and I have ever hung out without the mutual friend. It’s like our mutual friend had to cancel dinner plans with Riggle and me at the last minute, but we both still showed. And we found out, […]

Tough Conversations

Do You Still Talk to Grandma? by Brit Barron

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Read as part of CBR17 Bingo: borrowed. I borrowed this book from the library. When I picked up this book, I admit I assumed it was written by a white person. The vibe I got was one of those “Here’s how to have tough talks around the Thanksgiving dinner table” pieces I see every year mostly from white people on how they are supposed to indulge their racist uncle’s FOX-inspired rant. I had no idea Brit Barron is a queer Black woman. That’s 100% my […]

The encouraging message that went viral is now in a cute book with more friends

Koupen-chan & You: Words of Encouragement from Japan's Positive Penguin by Rurutea

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I have seen this adorable little penguin on some things but never knew that it had a name or that recently they had a book come out called Koupen-chan & You: Words of Encouragement from Japan’s Positive Penguin by Rurutea. When I found this book as an online reader copy (though it is available currently), I figured I would look at a few pages (as it was nearly 300 pages). What started as a “few pages” turned into “all the pages” read. Now, it is […]

I Mean Sure, But Also No

The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins

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Best for: No one. Seriously. The concept – the very very basic, simple, concept, is something I think many people could find helpful. But the other 299 pages of this 300 page book don’t make up for it. In a nutshell: Professional self-help writer Mel Robbins claims to have discovered a concept that her daughter is responsible for specifically (and that various philosophical and religious groups have been pitching for centuries) and then spends a lot of time providing some okay and some awful examples […]

“I’m not interested in burning myself [out] by whole-assing stuff that will be fine if I half- or quarter-ass it. Being able to achieve maximum economy of ass is an important adult skill.”

Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman

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This year I picked my top five books and Burkeman garnered the number one spot for another book, but he earned the superlative for “most likely to change your life” for this one. I first discovered him (like not that I “discovered him” but that when I became aware of him, you get my meaning) on NPR Life Kit in an episode titled “How to Rethink What You Spend Your Time – And Life – Doing.” This simple 21 minute episode shook me upside down, […]



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