Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Grab Bag

In Pharoah's Army by Tobias Wolff

Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka

Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

The Missing of the Somme by Geoff Dyer

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

The Collected Stories of Breece D'J Pancake by Breece Pancake

Child of God by Cormac Mccarthy

Candide by Voltaire

A Shropshire Lad by AE Housman

On Animals by Susan Orlean

The Facts by Philip Roth

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In Pharoah’s Army -4/5 The second memoir by Tobias Wolff (known for A Boy’s Life too) but covering his time in Vietnam. This memoir reads a lot like a Vietnam novel — faint with memories, covering topics, and episodic. It’s hard not to compare it to Tim O’Brien’s The Things they Carried (a “novel”) and If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship me Home (a memoir). In those two books Tim O’Brien likes to hide. There’s a few moments where […]

Hana-Kimi: For You in Full Blossom Vol. 1 – 5

Hana-Kimi: vol. 1 by Hisaya Nakajo

Hana-Kimi: vol. 2 by Hisaya Nakajo

Hana-Kimi: vol. 3 by Hisaya Nakajo

Hana-Kimi: vol. 4 by Hisaya Nakajo

Hana-Kimi: vol. 5 by Hisaya Nakajo

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Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (花ざかりの君たちへ “For You in Full Blossom”), in America shortened to Hana Kimi, is a manga series by writer and artist Hisaya Nakajo.  I fell head over heels for this manga when it was  starting to be released in the US in 2004,  eagerly waiting for translations to be done and the next volume released.  I haven’t read it in over a decade.  My ten year old has read it at least twice and is on a third read through. So I’m reading […]

While none of the work we do is very important, it is important that we do a great deal of it

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

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You know, that might be the answer – to act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of. That’s a trick that never seems to fail. ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22 “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, […]

Hickey jokes, messy eating, and bubble baths.

Fangs by Sarah Andersen

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There have been several coincidences lately. The most recent is I just found my Sarah’s Scribbles books by Sarah Andersen, then a few days later I found Fangs by them. Now that might not seem like a big deal, but I had not even thought about Andersen’s books in months (though I do have her weekly planner), and here I am getting bombarded by their wonderful work. I have not felt well for a few days (just the “summer blues” not due to sickness), but […]

Really tough to read right now, in the aftermath of another shooting

There There by Tommy Orange

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First,  huge trigger warning, especially right now, as we go through the aftermath of yet ANOTHER SHOOTING at what we should expect to be a peaceful gathering – this novel crescendos towards a shooting at a Powwow in Oakland, CA. The events that precede the shooting are the main thrust of the novel, and the final section contains descriptions of the event itself and brief content about its aftermath. I’d say maybe it isn’t for right now but honestly, when are we not reeling from […]

“Herein lies the tragedy of the age … that men know so little of men.” – W.E.B. DuBois

Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejide

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I am not a scholar of mythology, I had only a passing acquiantance with Egyptian gods and goddesses when I had the pleasure of reading Creatures of Passage. But this genre-bending novel made me want to learn more as I read about twin siblings Osiris and Nephthys and their triumphs and tragedies in the Kingdom of Anacostia – a neighborhood in DC. Yejide mixes some elements of a magical tale with gritty realism, to superb results. This is one part ghost story, one part redemption / […]



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