Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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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 […]

It’s never too late for a comeback

Awake by Jen Hatmaker

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I think I may have first seen Awake (2025) by Jen Hatmaker on NYT’s Best Books of the Year List. I’m a fan of memoirs, and the blurb caught my attention. So, I borrowed the Audiobook from my library and gave it a listen. Jen Hatmaker woke up in the middle of the night in July 2020. Her husband was in bed next to her, declaring into his phone that he loved another woman. At this point, they had five children and had been married for twenty-six […]

I’ve got the butter knife blues

lues with a Butter Knife: The Unstoppable Music of CeDell Davis by Jason Peterson and R. Gregory Christie

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Out of all the music I enjoy listening to, Blues has never been a top one. However, I appreciate how it has shaped the music world. I appreciate the hard work, troubles that people had to overcome and how it represented (and still does) a world rich in culture. And yes, I like it, there are a few songs I have enjoyed, but it is not my “go to” when it comes to listening. With that said, I know a few of the big names, […]

I read two books in a row called “Savage [Something]”

Savage Appetites: True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession by Rachel Monroe

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As a whole, I’m not as mad about true crime as many women are – though I’ve certainly been compelled by various stories over the years. Unpacking some of my childhood media memories (Tonya Harding, OJ Simpson, etc) led me to You’re Wrong About, and I also love Criminal – both because they pick interesting stories but offer a good mix. I can’t just do murder stories all the time. But I’ve been researching the genre for a project, and I heard Monroe quoted on […]

An account of life

I Won't Pretend These Missiles Are Stars: Life in Iran During the 12-Day War by Tehran's Cartoonist Collective / The Cartoonist Collective

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The short stories inside of I Won’t Pretend These Missiles Are Stars by Tehran’s Cartoonist Collective deal with the weeks of war between Israel and Iran. Set in Iran, each of the people giving their story has a different way of dealing or not dealing with the events around them. Some worry about the big picture (death), others worry that they never got to wear the special outfit to their presentation. Each author has a unique way of showing what was and wasn’t important to […]

In Many Ways, Very Necessary

The Afterlife of Malcolm X by Mark Whitaker

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I first encountered the legend Malcolm X when I was in fifth grade. At my lily-white elementary school, my–a rarity in my hometown–black male teacher distributed a list of names to his predominantly white students and asked each to choose a name for a report. This was fifth grade and in the late 1980s; we were beginning to learn about black history, and it was February–Black History Month. The mimeographed list came to me, and I chose Malcolm X. I’d never before heard of him; […]



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