Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I wrote the review ages ago, but left the wording in present tense

This Is How I Say I Love You: Little Bunny’s Bedtime Story Told in English and Chinese by Dayong Gan

The Most Beautiful Painting: Discover the Mystery of Chinese Script (English and Mandarin Chinese Edition) by Yajuan Lu and Jian Li

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As a kid I remember checking out several folktale books from the school library. As an adult I learned to appreciate them in a way I never could have as a kid. One thing was how similar stories can pop up in different cultures, or how stories can be adapted for another setting. The other is you can learn about a country as well. And while I am not sure if the two books in this review will fit any of the above categories, or […]

Lots of cat pictures and cat things

Cat by Leila Jarbouai, Hannah Shaw, Phaidon

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This one I picked up for the cover. Cartoon style black cat curled up, title simply “Cat”. It’s an art book, over 200 pages of cats in painting, photograph, wood cut, and objects over time. Each page has an image and the museum description (although not always where the original currently lives). There’s almost a little bit of everything, from graffiti, to an Hermes scarf, to a Garfield strip (had to wait a while for that one) to Nyan-cat to Warhol and Doré to da […]

Andrew Wyeth

The Apprenticeship of Andrew Wyeth: Painting a Family Legacy by Gene Barretta

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Read via an online reader copy, though it is currently available, The Apprenticeship of Andrew Wyeth: Painting a Family Legacy by Gene Barretta is a lovely story about a painter who may not necessarily be “mainstream” (I judge “mainstream” as “pop culture” and by does my dad know who Person X is) but he was well known in the artworld. We also see how his childhood and youth would influence Wyeth to become the painter and adult Wyeth. There are lovely illustrations that capture the […]

World of Marcus Pfister

My Friend the Paintbrush: The Colorful World of Marcus Pfister by Marcus Pfister

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Cbr17bingo Arts (paintbrushes and an artist are the theme) When I saw the title (via an online reader copy) My Friend the Paintbrush: The Colorful World of Marcus Pfister by Marcus Pfister and translated by David Henry Wilson, I figured it might be cute, but not overwhelmingly WOW. I did see it was due at the end of March/early April 2026 but still thought I’d read it “now” instead of putting it on my TBR list. And I am glad I did. While it might […]

Paint feelings

Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony : La Grande Vallée Suite by Lisa Rogers

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I was hoping for more factual information in Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony : La Grande Vallée Suite by Lisa Rogers and illustrated by Stacy Innerst, but the spirit of the book is as if the artist herself had painted it. Only not abstract and it does have good facts, just focuses more on a poetic execution on the subject. The main point that grabbed my attention was that I was not really aware of the artist, but I think I have seen some of […]

A red swimsuit and a copper diving helmet

Else B. in the Sea : The Woman Who Painted the Wonders of the Deep by Jeanne Walker Harvey

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Else B. in the Sea : The Woman Who Painted the Wonders of the Deep by Jeanne Walker Harvey and illustrated by Melodie Stacey is due early June 2024. Therefore I read via an online reader copy. This is an amazing introductory picture book on a person, Else Bostelmann, who we are not probably familiar with. She was not only an artist but also a scientist. She was hired, in the 1930s, to paint the ocean. But not the waves or the creatures above those […]



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