Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

How I Learned to Accept my Hangover

A Short History of Drunkenness: How, Why, Where, and When Humankind Has Gotten Merry from the Stone Age to the Present by Mark Forsyth

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I don’t know how I found this book, but somehow while freezing on the train platform in Tokyo on New Year’s morning, I located this little gem. I started to read it on my phone, as I stood huddled in a train car trying to not get elbowed by too many hungover locals on their way to see family. I’m told by a coworker that it’s a tradition in Japan. First you get hammered on New Year’s Eve and then travel to see your family […]

Awesome Info but Attitude goes Bad

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I was at a conference in Cincinnati a while back, and there was an independent bookstore with a café a few doors down from the hotel. I felt something of an obligation to buy something there, even though I needed to be mindful of being able to zip my carry-on bag closed. I had no idea what I was going to buy, but I saw a display table of recommended reads, and picked the most interesting looking book off it. After reading it, I’m in […]

We’ll always be troubled by how things are—that’s how it stands with the difficult gift of consciousness.

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By the time this came off the wait-list at the library, I had completely forgotten why my friend had recommended it to me, other than the obvious, which is that I love me some Ian McEwan. And what’s interesting to report now that I’ve read Nutshell is that I may have grown out of my McEwan faze, because this checked a LOT of my boxes but ultimately didn’t blow me out of the water. Which is not to say that this isn’t a beautiful book, […]

Elvis is the best

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Shop owner Sarah is cleaning out a hoarder house for appraisal and sale when she (well, her cat, Elvis) finds a body in the kitchen. The rest of the story details how Sarah and her friends try to solve the murder. Does that sound like I’m bored? I was bored and I don’t know why. It’s a perfectly capable cozy mystery, but I just didn’t care about the mystery.  I guess because I figured out the who and why during the first few chapters, so […]

I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper on death.

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This is a well written fantasy novel, the world building is very well thought out and presented nicely, the characters are well rounded and interesting. This book should have been catnip for me, and yet it was a chore to read. I was stuck in a blizzard and I still had trouble forcing myself to read this one. I just found myself so bored by it. I’d be reading a passage and my mind would start to wander to other things. I had the same issue […]

Tart green apple on the nose, with a smooth mouthfeel and a dry, cheeky finish

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Does this actually count as a book? I know there’s no minimum page requirement, but 20 pages is not a lot of pages. Well, I have read it, and now I shall review it! Hang on, I’m just going to pour a glass* first. OK I’m back. A few weeks ago, NPR aired a segment about this book. I was immediately charmed by the interview, and resolved to track down the book and buy it immediately. You see, I enjoy a glass of wine, but […]



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