Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


One million roses, each handpicked.

In Search of Perfumes: A Lifetime Journey to the Source of Nature's Scents by Dominique Roques

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Dominique Roque, a sourcing agent working in the perfume industry, recounts his travels and travails in pursuit of natural ingredients used in perfumes and dives into the storied history and often precarious methods of the producers of those raw materials. Perfume is a ubiquitous thing, to the point that you don’t really even register it. I have several bottles sitting on my dresser right now. But I’d never really thought about where the components of which they are composed of, which was why I found In […]

I Know What Styles I Like

How to Read London: A Crash Course in London Architecture by Chris Rogers

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Best for: People without a background in architecture who are interested in learning about the different styles they see around London. In a nutshell: Author Rogers provides two-page overviews of major architectural landmarks across the (primarily northern part of) London. Worth quoting: N/A Why I chose it: I was in a museum bookshop and had seen it before. Also, I find so much of London architecture interesting, but also a lot of it pretty depressing. What it left me feeling: Far-sighted (the font is super […]

Is This Accurate? Hope So.

Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living by Linnea Dunne

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Best for: People who liked all those hygge books that came out a few years back. Suckers for tactile, pretty books. In a nutshell: Author Dunne offers tips based in her Swedish upbringing, which she says was heavily influenced by lagom. Worth quoting: “There is no bad weather, only bad clothes.” (Allegedly an old Swedish saying?) Why I chose it: I mean, the size? The cover? Fun little tips for life? Sign me up. What it left me feeling: A bit inspired Review: This book […]

Curiosity = Happiness

Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude by Stephanie Rosenbloom

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“Alone, there’s no need for an itinerary. Walk, and the day arranges itself.” In Alone Time, New York Times travel writer Stephanie Rosenbloom travels solo to Paris, Istanbul, Florence, and New York. She shares details about the small, quiet moments that make up the most memorable parts of her trips: Alone, with no one at my side, I was also able to see le merveilleux quotidien, “the marvelous in everyday life”: a golden retriever gazing at a café chalkboard in Montmartre, as if reading the […]

24 Hours of Dark? Hey, Let’s Paaarty!

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner

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Well this was an odd duck.  Weiner, a former correspondent for NPR, decides to check out the common lists for happiest nations on Earth (circa 2008) to see if, indeed, are they?  Some names generally Scandinavian) crop up all the time, and others are less common.  And for good measure, he tossed in one at the opposite end of the spectrum (Moldovia).  I suspect it’s even more grim these days.  Using his skills and connections as a foreign correspondent, he questioned local officials, academics, psychiatrists, […]

“My mother had little sense of childhood, and simply saw it as an inconvenient life stage to be got through as quickly as possible.”

Diamonds at the Lost and Found by Sarah Aspinall

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I bought a lot of memoirs on my vacation this summer and realized when I got home how many are about fraught mother-daughter relationships. I guess I’m working through something, or else I just like reading about dramatic psychological family structures. Either way, Diamonds at the Lost and Found fits in the template of the troubled mother and the put-upon daughter who’s dragged in her wake. This book takes a nested narrative format, where Aspinall simultaneously tells the story of her childhood and adolescence being […]



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