Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“So Much for King Kong”

Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani

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I had seen the book Primates since it came out in 2013 (hardcover) and 2015 (paper). I had no real interest in it at the time. It was non-fiction (which I have had a love-hate relationship with over the years) and judging by the cover, young and maybe a little preachy due to the subject. And while it is non-fiction, it is what I have started to call a non-fiction novel which allows stories to have the best of the novel-flow and the facts of […]

“This is a story of light and dark…”

Moth by Isabel Thomas

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My goal this year was to read more novels. But how can I when there are books like Moth by Isabel Thomas? This is an amazing non-fiction story about a particular moth and how it changed over the years. The cover is gorgeous. The illustrations are a unique combination of romantic, realistic and abstract. These contradictions help give the feeling of night and day and the surroundings, plus making a story. The moths are black and white, and the rest of the animals are in […]

This book is cute. Wombats are way cuter.

The Secret World of Wombats by Jackie French

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CBR11bingo: I LOVE THIS What do I love? Wombats! To be fair, I’m partial to animals in general. I even try to coexist peacefully with centipedes, in spite of them giving me massive heebie jeebies. But wombats belong to that incredible group of mammals known as marsupials, of which I’m something of an aficionado. As my friends and more than a few disinterested strangers know, I volunteer on the weekends as a docent at the Los Angeles Zoo, where I not only educate the public […]

Put down the Google. All the answers you’re looking for are in this book.

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I received Does It Fart? for my birthday from my sister and brother-in-law, who know that I like to read all manner of animal-related information. “It’s a bit silly,” my sister warned. Silly, perhaps, but also revelatory. I often stick post-its on the pages of books I’m reading to help me locate the interesting bits when I’m writing my reviews (I can’t bring myself to underline), and I’ve applied a remarkable number for such a short (133-page) book! The Introduction explains why the authors decided […]

HOW in the world is a book about ROADKILL actually so FREAKIN’ (only I didn’t say freakin’) funny?????

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This is my chosen for its cover book. At first, I thought it was a dancing dinosaur. I then wondered why the dinosaur was tip-toeing across the road. I then read the title. Oooo-kay.  This is going to be. Interesting. Hopefully. I was afraid it was going to be very dull and academic. It is not. The author makes sure you are right there along for the journey. She presents her story just as that, a story. The facts are there, but you might be […]

Nutcrackers are like Sherlock, snowy owls are like Bedouin herders, and fairy wrens have more sense than most world leaders

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It’s been awhile since I’ve reviewed a book about birds, so I figured I’d better remedy that. I do quite a bit of reading about animals, zoology, and natural history in general and at times it can get repetitive. In The Thing with Feathers, Noah Strycker spices things up a bit by drawing parallels between birds and humans. Strycker takes the reader on a journey of body, mind, and spirit while dazzling with tales of amazing avians, from the tiny bee hummingbird of Cuba (which […]



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