Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Home or on the road

Home Body by Rupi Kaur

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I like poetry, but not all poetry. I prefer contemporary to classic. I like poems that are easy to understand, ones that are straight forward and one does not need to swim through “64 thousand-dollar words” to find the meaning of the poem. Home Body (the third collection of poetry Rupi Kaur) hits all the marks that I like. There are contemporary themes and writing style, straight forwardness and adult language, but it is not “sugary, literary, aren’t-I-smart-I-use-big-words” content. The themes of the poems you […]

“You’ll probably find one of those, ‘I like art’-type girls”

A Paris All Your Own by Eleanor Brown

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Of all the cities in the world to visit, none is as pressure-filled as Paris (from my vantage point, at least). I’m heading there for a weekend and it’s been a decade since I last went so I picked up this collection of essays, promising “Bestselling Women Writers on the City of Light.” I love the concept of this and I have the NYC-equivalents on my TR list (Goodbye to All That & Can’t Say Goodbye). I didn’t necessarily expect a useful travelogue but I […]

She’s poor on purpose? Is that even legal?

Credo: The Rose Wilder Lane Story by Peter Bagge

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Holy mother trucker! Credo: The Rose Wilder Lane Story is another roller coaster ride. Peter Bagge created something part love letter to Wilder and part “Watch Out for This Gal” story. The introduction and historical afterwards are probably the best part of a GD AWESOME book. However, sadly, I do not see people flocking to get it. Rose Wilder Lane (while a household name during her time) is small potatoes now compared to her mother (a gal you might have heard of, Laura Ingles Wilder). […]

Fireflies, Wildflower Moon, Black Widow and Rebirth

Season of the Sorceress: Poetry and Prose by Melody Lee

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#cbr11bingo #TheCollection I have been following Melody Lee on Facebook for a while now. I loved reading her poetry. Unfortunately, once I found a full collection and not just her snippets, things were not as strong. Not to say, at anytime was I not enjoying myself, but her style is solidly her in Season of the Sorceress: Poetry and Prose and maybe not what I as expecting from the cover (created by Mitch Green) and what I was aware of with her (basically meme) poems. […]

When Far Away is as close as your backyard

If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar

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#cbr11bingo #FarAndAway I am not a woman of the Islamic faith. I did not grow up an orphan. I did not look different from people around me due to my skin color. I do know what it is like to be a woman in our society (and a plus sized one) but I cannot imagine the ethnic cleansing/genocide of over 14 million people during the India/Pakistan Partition and 75,000 to 100.000 of them were women. Yes, I grew up poor. Yes, I know what the […]

Heartland – Heartbreaking and thoughtful in America’s Heartland

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh

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This is yet another great read I “discovered” via ANUW, the Association of Northwestern University Women book club that I am a member of, by way of my employment at Northwestern University. I was a little leery, as last year the book club selections were pretty heavy to include J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy. At first thought, his book has many parallels to hers, so I wasn’t that interested in reading more of the same. Vance of Elegy grew up in rural Appalachia and details the […]



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