Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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This is what happens when we break book club rules

West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

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I read West With Giraffes (2021) by Lynda Rutledge because it was chosen by my book club. After reading some pretty bad books, we’ve made up a loose rule that you need to have read the book before nominating it for book club. Well, it didn’t happen this time. The husband of one of our book clubbers said it would be a good book for us. I think the majority of us would agree that it was not. I think I was most frustrated at what it […]

The Great Depression, a Road trip, and Giraffes?

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

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West with Giraffes was my book club’s February pick. I had also been hearing coworkers talk about this so it seemed only a matter of time before I read it. The publishers say the book is “part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story” and I think that’s a pretty accurate description of what this book is about. Set during the Great Depression in the midst of the Dust Bowl, an orphan from Texas makes his way to New York only to find […]

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

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West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge is a charming historical fiction. It is the coming of age story of “Woody Nickel”, a Dust Bowl orphan from the Texas Panhandle who travels cross country with a pair of giraffes. Rutledge, while researching a book on the San Diego Zoo, learned about two giraffes who arrived in NYC on a boat that barely survived the extremely destructive 1938 Long Island hurricane. The giraffes then traveled cross country to their new home at the San Diego Zoo. Using […]



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