Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“Feral, for all the wildness it implies, just means that an animal was abandoned by the system that created it.”

Poets Square: a Memoir in Thirty Cats by Courtney Gustafson

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I am very far behind my book goal for the year so far, so I did some TBR triage by moving shorter books up to the front of the request queue with my library. Poets Square is one of the first of that reshuffle to make its way to me and was a welcome bit of solace this past weekend. Poets Square is Courtney Gustafson’s story of how she accidentally inherited a feral colony of 30 cats which in turn led her to work in […]

“Now, in a growing number of cities across the country, when a victim testified, she no longer did so alone.”

The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story by Pagan Kennedy

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Following news at the beginning of May that the End the Backlog campaign had finally achieved rape kit reform legislation in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Now, in the year of aggravation that is 2026. But, with a goal of being thankful for the wins and not angered by their delay I decided it was time to move The Secret History of the Rape Kit up to the top of my reading list.   Pagan Kennedy’s book traces the story of the creation of the modern rape kit and the woman, Marty Goddard, […]

“Love is as love does.”

Land of Enchantment by Leigh Stein

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I discovered Leigh Stein via her Substack, specifically this post, which hit the nail so solidly on the head that I had to see what else she had written. Land of Enchantment is the novel/memoir version of that post, sort of – it’s a thoughtful, uncomfortable look at her youthful abusive relationship with her ex, Jason, for whom she moved to New Mexico, hoping that if she changed herself enough, he would stick around. Things with Jason in Albuquerque, however, are not great: Once we were […]

No longer under his grandmother’s table

I Wish I Didn't Have to Tell You This: A Graphic Memoir by Eugene Yelchin

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I enjoy Eugene Yelchin as an author and illustrator. I have read several titles including, The Genius Under the Table: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, Breaking Stalin’s Nose, and The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet! by Carmen Agra Deedy (illustrated by Yelchin). Therefore I was excited about I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This: A Graphic Memoir written and illustrated by Yelchin. I was assuming it was going to be a memoir of his life during the early 1980s, but it […]

A graphic novel about a graphic interest

Murder Book: a graphic memoir of a true crime obsession by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell

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Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell is a cartoonist, comedian, and true crime fanatic. Her graphic memoir is a light-hearted tribute to true crime and an exploration of why she and so many of her peers love it. I reviewed Rachel Munroe’s Savage Appetites earlier this year, and I’d say this book is the funny, optimistic true crime fan memoir in pairing with Munroe’s more dramatic, sobering one. (Both equally essential reading for true crime fans.) Campbell’s graphic memoir is in black and white, both in sync with […]

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam for layfolks

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by James Martin

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Every now and again, there’s a picture of David Tenant that pops up on social media where he’s taking a selfie at a con, and there’s some guy just next to him with his nose in his phone. The caption is almost always some suggestion of what the other guy is missing being that close to a celebrity and not knowing it.  Here’s my version of that, kind of. I kind of remember the final time I graduated that the Commencement speaker was referred to […]



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