Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About Ellesfena

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I mostly read nonfiction (especially public health-related), mysteries, and fantasy. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Ellesfena's Quick Questions interview.)

Ellesfena's Reviews:

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“Was it possible that the best bit of him was shining forth, and surfacing?”

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

February 14, 2023 by Ellesfena 2 Comments

The book: Bill Furlong owns a company that delivers coal to the residents of a small town in Ireland in the 1980s. Furlong (as he’s mostly referred to in the book) is married, has 5 daughters, and had an unusual upbringing (an unmarried mother, he was raised by her and her employer and doesn’t know his father–not an easy childhood in mid-century Ireland). One day, when he’s delivering coal to the local convent, Bill finds something that disturbs him and forces him to make a […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Claire Keegan, Ireland

Ellesfena's CBR15 Review No:2 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Claire Keegan, Ireland ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

“Terror and delight sitting next to each other, their feet dangling off the side of a bridge very high up.”

The Book of Delights by Ross Gay

February 14, 2023 by Ellesfena Leave a Comment

The book: A few weeks before his 42nd birthday, Ross Gay decided to try to write a daily essay on delight, starting on his birthday and ending one year later, when he turned 43. Although he ended up not writing every single day, there are about 100 short essays in here, some only a paragraph, some several pages. They cover all kinds of thing that delight Gay, things you might think of, like hummingbirds or flowers, and sometimes things you really, really might not think […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: delight, essays, Ross Gay

Ellesfena's CBR15 Review No:1 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: delight, essays, Ross Gay ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

While you make pretty speeches, I’m being cut to shreds

Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention, and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari

September 5, 2022 by Ellesfena 5 Comments

Bingo: Minds I’m conflicted about this book. Stolen Focus is, as the title says, about all the ways in which the modern world destroys our attention spans, and what we can do to help ourselves. Each chapter is about a different cause of shortened attention, and potential solutions (some individual, some global). For most of the book, I was really enjoying it. Sure, a lot of the information was stuff I already knew, but with a lot more detail and nuance than I’d read before. Johann Hard […]

Filed Under: Health, Non-Fiction Tagged With: cbr14bingo, Johann hari, stolen focus

Ellesfena's CBR14 Review No:20 · Genres: Health, Non-Fiction · Tags: cbr14bingo, Johann hari, stolen focus ·
· 5 Comments

Dying’s not so bad. At least I won’t have to answer the telephone.

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

September 5, 2022 by Ellesfena Leave a Comment

Bingo: New (new author to me) This graphic novel is Roz Chast’s memoir about her parents’ aging and eventual death. It’s a dark topic! But the book itself is highly entertaining. Chast’s parents, George and Elizabeth, lived their entire lives in Brooklyn. Chast was born fairly late into their marriage, after they suffered a stillbirth several years before her birth. One day, when her parents were in their 80s, her mother fell. This was the beginning of a downward slope in health for both of […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Non-Fiction Tagged With: Brooklyn, cbr14bingo, dying, Graphic Novel, parents, roz chast

Ellesfena's CBR14 Review No:19 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Non-Fiction · Tags: Brooklyn, cbr14bingo, dying, Graphic Novel, parents, roz chast ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

The Kind of Fame That’ll Warp My Brain

Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir by Wil Wheaton

August 28, 2022 by Ellesfena Leave a Comment

CBR Bingo: Star (Both because Wheaton is a celebrity, and also because of Star Trek) It feels like there’s been a lot of talk lately about child stars, what with Jennette McCurdy’s book coming out and the recent allegations against Fred Savage. Between all that, reading Still Just a Geek, and reading snippets from House of Hilton about Kim Richards, I’m starting to think maybe we should just ban Hollywood from using child actors? In the early 2000s, Will Wheaton published a book of essays (Just a Geek) […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #memoir, Big Bang theory, cbr14bingo, Star Trek, wil wheaton

Ellesfena's CBR14 Review No:18 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction · Tags: #memoir, Big Bang theory, cbr14bingo, Star Trek, wil wheaton ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Heartwrenching and So Good

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

August 16, 2022 by Ellesfena 2 Comments

Bingo: Heart (themes of familial love) What a lovely book. The Best We Could Do is a graphic novel by Thi Bui. It’s a story about her family. It starts with Thi giving birth to her son, and as she comes to terms with becoming a mother, she finds herself thinking about her relationships with her own parents and her childhood. From there, she explores her parents’ childhoods, how they met, their life in Viet Nam prior to and during the war, and their escape to the […]

Filed Under: Graphic Novels/Comic Books Tagged With: cbr14bingo, Graphic Novel, The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui, Viet nam, Vietnam

Ellesfena's CBR14 Review No:17 · Genres: Graphic Novels/Comic Books · Tags: cbr14bingo, Graphic Novel, The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui, Viet nam, Vietnam ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments
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