Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Loves books.

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“No doubt you thought I was dead. I sometimes think I am myself.”

An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell

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A colleague offers Kurt Wallander, who is nearing retirement, a house in the countryside. When Wallander goes to take a look at it, he discovers a skeleton in the garden. In order to solve the murder, he has to delve into the house’s and its inhabitants’ past. If there is one word to describe this book, it is sparse. Not only the victim has been stripped to the bare bones, but everything else, too: the dialogue, the characterisation, and the cast, while the overall mood […]

There Is Room for Optimism

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky

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Why do we do the things we do? This is the question at the center of this book by Robert Sapolsky, a neurobiologist and primatologist. Unsurprisingly, there is no easy answer, and even though looking at our biological makeup is essential to even begin understanding it, on its own, it is not enough to fully illuminate the complexities of human behaviour. The first part of the book is dedicated to explaining how our brain is designed, what the different parts are for and how they […]

“The only way we will mean anything is if we unite.”

The Hundred Wells of Salaga by Ayesha Harruna Attah

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In Ghana, at the end of the 19th century, the fates of two young women from very different places intertwine: Aminah, who lives with her family in a small village and thinks about becoming a shoemaker like her father, is captured by raiders who sell her into slavery, while Wurche, daughter of an important chief, tries to break the mould of what a woman is supposed to be by striving to become involved in politics. Although the two protagonists have completely different backgrounds, they have […]

A Stranger World

The Doll's Alphabet by Camilla Grudova

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Women shed their outer skin to reveal their true insect self, a man with eight legs is looking for a suitable companion, two girls become obsessed with a magical sewing machine, and a wooden mermaid gives birth to a sconce after being beset by an octopus. These are just a few of the short stories in the book, and they all are cut from the same cloth: a scratchy, worn-out fabric depicting a warped reality. The world in which The Doll’s Alphabet takes place is […]

Step Out of the Boxes

An Apartment on Uranus by Paul B. Preciado

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In this collection of columns that were originally published in the French newspaper Libération over the span of several years, Preciado not only chronicles his transformation from Beatriz to Paul, but also offers commentary on recent political, social, and cultural issues, for example the rise of neo-fascism, some of the intricacies of the Catalan independence movement, or the criminalization of migrants. This is a thought-provoking book that has its strongest moments when the author is writing about his own life experiences and then puts them […]



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