Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Different colors “talk” to different pollinators

Flower Talk by Sara Levine

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The cover to Flower Talk was a bit off-putting at first. I had picked it up to process it for an order a customer had placed, but my curiosity got the better of me (I admit it, I look at customers books. I have found a few interesting things that way). A few minutes later I found a new book to enjoy. Sara Levine will now be on my radar for authors to watch for. Flower Talk is an amusing, factual and gorgeously illustrated picture […]

Pre-order a copy today, get your copy in March 2020

Nesting by Henry Cole

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Putting away future publications reader copies to our staff shelves, Nesting by Henry Cole came up. The blue of the cover popped up. I was not sure what was going on. Was it going to be about all birds, robins, hummingbirds? The contrast of the grey/white and blue was (yes, a bit dramatic) mesmerizing. I had put it in my, “Not reading now” pile, but kept thinking I probably should read it. It was not a wasted read. I give this book a five for […]

Parts of Gulp are hard to swallow

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

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I love Mary Roach’s books. They’re funny and irreverent and very educational. Her use of ridiculous footnotes rivals that of Gaiman’s and Pratchett’s Good Omens. So I had really high hopes for Gulp when I first picked it up a few years ago.  Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal is about the human digestive tract, from the mouth all the way down to the exit. It discusses how smell affects taste, the roles of saliva, why poop smells and attempts to make it not smell, […]

Kids ask the darnedest things about decomposing bodies

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death by Caitlin Doughty

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I am always on the lookout for science-y books that make science accessible to literature majors like myself. Bonus points if the topic is slightly quirky, such as brain abnormalities, digestive processes, or corpses. Because I’m a lucky gal, my husband also stays on the lookout for these types of books, and for Christmas he bought me Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? (Eat your hearts out, ladies!) I wasn’t familiar with Caitlin Doughty, but I soon learned that she is a New York Times best-selling […]

Making all things Death interesting, with Pictures

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty

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So technically I started this book on New Year’s Eve day but I did not get it finished in time to be a final review of 2019, so here it is as my first review of 2020. Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? is very much as it has been advertised: an entertaining, yet informative discussion of various questions a mortician has been asked about death and dying. The one thing that I was not expecting and still kind of doubt is the claim that […]

Please Mary, may I have some more?

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

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Gulp is my second Mary Roach book (I’d previously read and loved Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers) and is a thoroughly entertaining trip through our digestive systems. I do have digestive issues of my own, which no doubt heightened the appeal of this book to me, but as it’s so interesting and entertainingly written, I expect those whose stomachs don’t kick off regularly will also find something to enjoy. Gulp takes you through the whole process – from smell (which actually provides us […]



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