Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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About Sophia

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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:

Do Hard Things

Smile, or You're Doing it Wrong by Andy Glaze

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As I write this, Andy Glaze is almost 100 miles into the Arizona Monster 300 Trail Race. It’s over 300 miles of mostly trail running with a cut off of seven days. It’s really beyond my comprehension. I’ve backpacked about 250 miles, but it took me three weeks. Ten to fifteen miles of hiking per day with plenty of sleep is nothing like what’s happening in Arizona right now. I stumbled upon Andy on Instagram. He is a fire battalion chief in California and an ultrarunner. […]

Hockey romance

Game Changer by Rachel Reid

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Inspired by the new, hit television show Heated Rivalry (a show I’ve heard of but not seen), my book club decided to read a random, hockey-themed romance novel paired with a field trip to watch a hockey game. The random, hockey romance novel was not a huge hit, so I decided to skip it and go straight to the source material. When I looked up Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid, I discovered that it is actually Book 2 of a series. So, I decided to start at the beginning […]

I don’t know why I love epistolary novels so much

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

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I’ve always enjoyed a good epistolary novel, and The Correspondent (2025) by Virginia Evans is no different. I saw The Correspondent on a number of year-end, best-of lists and decided to give it a try. I figured an old lady writing a bunch of letters would be a slow, contemplative novel. I was wrong. Although The Correspondent was contemplative, the story was surprisingly compelling. I had a hard time putting this book down. The Correspondent begins with 73-year-old Sybil Van Antwerp writing to her brother, who lives in France. It is 2012 […]

A Change in Perspective

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

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I found One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This [One Day] (2025) by Omar El Akkad because I was seeing it all over the place. It won the National Book Award and was on a number of high-profile lists. I’ve been interested in learning more about Palestine for some time, especially after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and the subsequent violence from Israel against Palestinians. I found this book very well written and eye opening. Omar El Akkad was born in […]

More digestible self help

The Anxious Perfectionist by Clarissa W. Ong and Michael P. Twohig

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I’ve been reading a lot of self-help books lately for a number of reasons. It is great when something I read can make a concrete difference in my life. I just recently read another book on perfectionism, called The Perfectionists Guide to Losing Control. That book was interesting, but a little frustrating and left me wanting more. So, I listened to The Anxious Perfectionist (2022) by Clarissa W. Ong and Michael P. Twohig hoping for a better understanding of perfectionism and how it might affect me. Although The […]

The celebrity I would be most excited about sitting next to on a plane

The Look by Michelle Obama

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I am a big fan of Michelle Obama, and I find news about either Obama kind of nostalgic and reassuring these days. So, I picked up The Look (2025) by Michelle Obama from my library as soon as I heard about it. It is probably relevant that I do not have a strong interest in fashion. Although I like to sometimes browse through movie stars’ dresses from award shows or look at wedding dresses, I personally dress only for comfort. My job and my lifestyle do not […]



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