Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“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, […]

Diving In Too Deep

Submersed: Wonder, Obsession, and Murder in the World of Amateur Submarines by Matthew Gavin Frank

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Before the murder of journalist Kim Wall by inventor Peter Madsen hit international headlines, few had heard of the world of amateur submarines, a small but obsessive group chasing the chance to go ever deeper. Like the author, I am very claustrophobic, and deeply suspicious of deep water, so of course the stories of spelunkers and divers fascinate me. And while I remember following the story of Kim Wall’s murder as it unfolded in the news, I didn’t follow it all the way until the […]

What’s in your pockets right now?

Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close by Hannah Carlson

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This one started out strong and just kind of lost steam for me. Informative, excellent images, but I probably would have broken up the chapters differently.  I need more words for a Cannonball Read review, you say? Oh. I’ll keep going then.   Material culture history is a fascinating way to unpack a time period and really get a feel for what life was really like and the complicated web that leads to our recorded history, and not what nonsense humans want you to think […]

“Our bodies, by their very nature, resist control, a fact that always has felt paradoxically triumphant when I encounter it.”

Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke

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Everyone has a butt, and most everyone accords them more thought and meaning than they do many other parts of their body. But why do we pay them so much attention? How have they come to be so fraught with connotation? I remember seeing this book on NetGalley ages back, but forgot that I wanted to read it until I read Travis_J_Smith’s review last week. This proves I have a terrible memory, because who could forget that cover? I’ve been feeling like reading a micro-history […]

A book about butts!

Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke

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This was a fun book, just as the cover and (extremely good) title promised. Butts: A Backstory is a cultural microhistory of the butt that pretty much covers every aspect of it that you would want or expect it to. We start with the evolutionary purpose of the butt and then move on to such topics as: Sarah Baartman (“The Hottentot Venus”, and why everything about what happened to her and even that moniker is super racist and tragic); the impact of butts on fashion […]

take a look! it’s in *this* book!

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

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Why not take a break from the world with a strangely soothing tale of a library fire? That question appears to be pure chaos, but seriously: wouldn’t it be nice to let a meticulous journalist and storyteller narrate a well-researched account of history, memory, and true crime? Good news: you can do it! Just plug your headphones in and let Susan Orlean and The Library Book transport you to a different world. Orleans covers more than just the true-crime glitter that is strewn around the  […]



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