Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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not a series, but out of order none the less

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

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My complaint against Conversations with Friends is wholly not the fault of the novel, the writer, or the characters within. My complaint is petty. I am being spoiled in lamenting that Conversations with Friends is not another Normal People. I know. It’s a wild assumption, I should know better, and the like- but Normal People was perfect. Conversations with Friends is a stepping stone on the path of Sally Rooney, and I wish that I had heeded a friend’s recommendation and read this one first! That being said, Conversations with Friends also worms a way into […]

suggested listening: “lemonworld” the national

Normal People by Sally Rooney

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Normal People is the feeling that immediately takes hold in your hands when you first pull away from someone that you love. It’s the deep, dull ache that comes from within your bones. The only way to ease the sensation is to try to take slow breaths- but you can’t and they rock through your lungs short and ragged. It’s packing up your car and driving away without an idea of when or how you’ll ever be near that person again. It’s the feeling when you […]

“Your relationship is a great adventure. Treat it as such.”

Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by John Gottman, Julie Schwartz Gottman, Doug Abrams, Rachel Carlton Abrams

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Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman are renowned psychologists who specialize in what makes happy, healthy, long-lasting romantic relationships work. One of John Gottman’s claims to fame is to be able to determine, with 94% accuracy, which couples are headed for divorce on the strength of a five minute snippet of conversation. I read Dr. Gottman’s Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work before I married my husband. Neither of our parents have marriages we wished to emulate, and research is my love language. […]

Quick, Helpful Advice on Being a Better Husband

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Like eleven million other Americans (literally!), I bought Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages at some point in my relationship. The gist of the book is that there are five “love languages” and everyone prefers one of them: time, touch, gifts, service, and words of affirmation. I remember liking it when I read it several years ago, but I was engaged at the time and it didn’t really stick. I remembered what it said about me (quality time!), but unfortunately not enough about what it said about […]

The hottest love has the coldest end

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Like most of the books I read these days, I discovered It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History (2015) through a Cannonball Review. It sounded like a fascinating, fun read, and it was immediately available at my library. That’s really all I needed, but knowing that one of the break-up stories was about Edith Wharton was probably what had me picking up this book so quickly. I love Wharton’s writing, and I wondered if I would be able to see any of her […]

A resounding “meh.”

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In Liane Moriarty’s fourth book, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, an Australian hypnotherapist named Ellen meets a bland and grumpy man named Patrick, who turns out to have a son, a dead ex wife, and a stalker – his ex, Saskia, who helped him raise his son for years after his wife’s death. Ellen is intrigued to the point of slightly obsessed with the stalker, and wrestles with an assortment of personal dilemmas: people not taking her career seriously, her mother’s unconventional choice to have her […]



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