Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search this Site

About Sophia

CBR 3
CBR 4
CBR 5
CBR 6
CBR 7
CBR 8
CBR 9
CBR10 participant
CBR11 participant
CBR12 participant
CBR13 participant
CBR14 Participant
CBR15 Participant
CBR16 Participant
CBR17 Participant

I love to read, and I love to learn. I wish I were retired so I could spend more time on my random flights of fancy. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Sophia's Quick Questions interview.)

Sophia's Reviews:

“Just the act of falling in love was to agree to a broken heart.”

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

by Leave a Comment

I’ve already read a couple of books by Taylor Jenkins Reid and generally liked them, but I think Atmosphere (2025) is my favorite (so far). I first saw Atmosphere on NPR’s Favorite books, and then my book club started talking about it too, which is why I picked it up. Atmosphere takes place in the early 1980’s at the NASA space shuttle program. We follow the women who are in NASA’s second class of astronauts to ever allow women. Joan Goodwin is an Astronomer unhappily teaching introductory classes to spoiled […]

The big one hits Portland

Tilt by Emma Pattee

by Leave a Comment

I am so excited by all of the end-of-the-year book lists coming out. I have so many books to read and so little time. I found Tilt by Emma Pattee (2025) after I saw it on both the Times and NPR’s lists. The NPR blurb about this book made it sound a little more lighthearted and fun than I found it to be. However, it did keep my interest. Annie lives in Portland. She is nine months pregnant, due any day, and picking out a crib in Ikea. She is hungry, […]

Self-help advice for taking control of your life

The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins

by Leave a Comment

I feel like I’ve read a string of self-help books lately, and I still have a couple more to go. The Let Them Theory (2024) by Mel Robbins was another recommendation from my therapist. I thought it was easy to follow, interesting to read, and had generally helpful advice. I’ve definitely been thinking about some of her recommendations and using it in my own life. Early on in her book, Robbins mentions that she’s good at distilling a lot of information into clear, easy-to-understand bites. I think […]

A true test of compatibility

A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

by Leave a Comment

I’ve found a number of interesting books when I need a new audio book by just seeing what is “available now” at my library, sorted by popularity. Is that how I found A Marriage at Sea (2025) by Sophie Elmhirst? Honestly, now I can’t remember. I may have seen it on a list somewhere. Also, now that I’ve read it, I’m seeing this book everywhere, including NPR and NYT’s 2025 lists. Spoilers follow. A Marriage at Sea is the true story of a couple, Maralyn and Maurice, who […]

Alice in a wonderland

Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

by Leave a Comment

I thought I’d been listening to Kristin Hannah’s latest novel, Magic Hour, but now that I’m writing the review, I just realized it was written back in 2006–so, almost twenty years ago and definitely not her latest novel. I’m a little late to this party. I’ve read a number of Hannah’s novels. Some of them I’ve really liked, and others I’ve found too contrived and I got annoyed. I was immediately drawn into this one, though, and I’m glad I read it. A young, malnourished girl wanders into […]

Science augmenting the human body

Replaceable You by Mary Roach

by Leave a Comment

Although it’s been a number of years since I’ve read a book by Mary Roach, I have read quite a few. Mary Roach writes non-fiction–digging into whatever topic seems to catch her fancy. Quite often this topic is at least a little bit taboo. She’s written a book about sex (Bonk), death (Stiff), and ghosts (Spook). When I was told her latest book was coming out, I immediately put a hold on it at the library. Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy (2025) is Roach’s latest […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo