Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Self-help advice for taking control of your life

The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins

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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 […]

An old man returns to his childhood home — a book review but also my earnest request for more Hollywood movies about Partition

The Persistence of Memory by Urvashi Butalia

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In my search to learn more about the partition of India after it gained independence from the British, Urvashi Butalia was a writer recommended by a Pakistani journalist friend who had done some reporting on this issue. Ten minutes of Google and I was able to find The Persistence of Memory, which ended up being a quick and satisfying read. Butalia follows Bir Bahadur Singh as he travels to Pakistan in his 70s, eager to return to his home village Thoa Khalsa for a visit […]

“His memory, like the world’s, was getting spotty.”

Hiroshima by John Hersey

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Originally a long-form article written in 1946, this is the story of six survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, with a follow up from decades on documenting the ups and downs of the survivors’ lives. This far on from the event, the enormity of the effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is commonly known, even if it’s still playing out even today. As such it’s rather hard to fully understand how much of a sensation this book was at the time […]

Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World

Island of the Lost by Joan Druett

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Last year katie’s review of Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World put it on my radar. I was in a run of adding “bad things happen to good boats” to my reading diet (Madhouse at the End of the Earth, Ghost Ship) and this fell right into that book category. Joan Druett’s book chronicles the two different ships that wrecked on the Auckland Islands south of New Zealand in 1864. However, the available primary sources (and more interesting survival story) means that her work is more heavily about the Grafton and its five-man crew who all survived their nearly two years on the […]

“When someone is murdered next door, it changes everything”

The Murder Next Door: A Graphic Memoir by Hugh D'Andrade

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The Murder Next Door: A Graphic Memoir by Hugh D’Andrade was given a rating of five because it is an interesting story. However, it is actually more of a 4.5 as there were a few places I was not “feeling it.”  With that said, the focus of a murder that happened 40 years prior, but is still affecting our narrator, is powerful, interesting and oddly relatable. The ending felt a bit rushed to me, but overall a darn (only didn’t say darn) good read.  Of […]

I heard it’s quite a fan of growth music.

Music Plants Hope by Tonnye Fletcher and Natalia Bruno

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A concert for plants? That is probably about as unique as it gets. And if you want to learn about that statement, then read Music Plants Hope by Tonnye Fletcher and illustrated by Natalia Bruno. I read it via an online reader copy, as it is due late May/early June 2026. But I think I might find a copy to donate to the local library and maybe for a few gifts for teacher friends. The text itself was enjoyable as there was a poeticness to […]



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