Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The search for nourishment

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

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When I think of ‘the leftovers’, my mind wanders to Thursday night’s dinner in my house. That’s leftovers night. It’s a bit sad, wilted, disappointing. Though it’s been zapped in the microwave, it’s not piping hot all the way through. There are cold patches within. It feels a little like giving up. Sure, you’re doing the Right Thing by not wasting what is left, but it’s not the same as it was before. It’s less. And that cannot be overcome. That’s what life is like […]

Election and Tracy Flick can’t Win (and Little Children)

Election by Tom Perrotta

Tracy Flick Can't Win by Tom Perrotta

Little Children by Tom Perrotta

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Election I wanted to reread Election, even though I read it a few years ago, because they produced an audiobook version of it in connection to the sequel coming out. Election is still very very funny and insightful, and one of the few books that I read where it actual feels like the person writing it has worked in a school, or spent enough time with a school to narrate the experience. It’s also a very outdated time capsule of a book now. The sentiments […]

“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.”

I Would be Doing this Anyway by Jia Tolentino

Rewards by Emma Cline

Crewelwork by Justin Torres

The Tomorrow Box by Curtis Sittenfeld

If You Are Lonely and You Know It by Yiyun Li

The Summer House by Cristina Henriquez

Me and Carlos by Tom Perrotta

Simplexity by Kiley Reid

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Ahh, Lester Bangs. Or at least, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs via Cameron Crowe in Almost Famous. Did I just grab this quote because it features the word “currency”? Well…yes and no. Currency, my latest dive into Amazon Original Stories (but not the latest collection released) describes itself as being about “friends, trends, and dividends”. The link between these eight stories is the currency between people; social, professional, and personal transactions made when money is too much to offer or not enough to cover. The players […]

Was Tracy Flick the proto nasty woman?

Election by Tom Perrotta

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Cbr12bingo adaptation, Bingo #3 (vertical, Music to Violet) The movie version of this novel came out in 1999, and I have never seen it in full so I cannot tell you how faithful it is to the book. But I can say that this is a really fun read, and pretty quick. Author Tom Perrotta employs a variety of characters as narrators recalling the events of a few short weeks in the spring of 1992. One might not think that a high school election for […]

This Feeling of Numbness is Highly Relatable but Not The Best Reading Experience

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

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Right off the bat I will say that I have not watched the HBO adaptation of this novel, so my review is free of any comparisons which may have affected my feelings on the novel. That said, it seems a little counterintuitive to read a story about the aftermath of the disappearance (and seeming death) of a percentage of the population around the world given *gestures vaguely* everything, you know? But I thought, maybe this will make these strange feelings and emotions I’m having right […]

On the first day of human sexuality, Ruth Ramsey wore a short lime green skirt…

The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta

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This is yet another Tom Perrotta novel I read. I happened to like this one just fine, without any real feelings of warmth or excitement about it. It’s structured a lot like his other novels, where we follow a handful of intermixed characters through the narrative understanding more about them and how they interact throughout. The premise here starts with a high school health teacher kind of sarcastically, but honestly answering a student’s question during sex-ed about oral sex. The question, isn’t oral sex the […]



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