Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by BROM

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Connecticut, 1666. An ancient spirit is awoken in the darkness of the wood, fed by blood and the prayers of the wild spirits name him Father and Slayer. They lure a clumsy farmer into a cave to feed him to the spirit, making young Abitha a widow. Abitha already doesn’t fit into the Puritan community with her outspoken ways and questioning of the rules. Having grown up in London, Abitha was sold by her drunken father and married off to a stranger, who thankfully turns […]

So is the devil a bad guy or not? Do I even care?

Slewfoot by Brom

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BINGO – The Wilds We all know this story: Puritan community in the Northeast turns on a local woman accused of witchcraft because she’s different. The woman and her husband live way on the outskirts of the village practically in the woods themselves, and the entire think them both a little off. The overall set up of this novel is not new. However what sets this story apart from others is that there isn’t unfounded hysteria. The protagonist Abitha is in fact cavorting with a […]

What even happened here?

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Here are three things I know: 1. The Puritans were weirdos. Everything with them was witches. Everything. My notes are missing. IT WAS A WITCH. My daughter is moody. SHE’S A WITCH. My dog barfed on my rug. WIIIITCH!!!!! 2. The airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow (European) is roughly 24 miles per hour. 3. I did not like this book. I really don’t want to spend much time talking about this book because, a) I started (and finally finished) it so long ago that […]

These Shipmates Were a Tad Too Wordy

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The Wordy Shipmates is pretty true to Sarah Vowell form: chatty historical memoir.  Her style in this book reminds me of the particularly engaging 10th grade American history teacher I had in 1998: lots of enthusiasm, lots of primary texts, a few personal anecdotes and musings thrown in for good measure.  She focuses on one historical point in this book, telling us all about the first American Puritans and how they got this great experiment started.  Winthrop, Williams, and Cotton are well-developed characters and Vowell […]



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