A lot of Cannonballers have already read and reviewed The Hate U Give in the past few years. I don’t want to repeat everything that’s already been said, but if you haven’t read this book yet, do yourself a favor and add it to your list. The Hate U Give is the story of Starr, a teenager who witnesses her friend being murdered by a cop. Starr, who is African-American, lives in a tough neighborhood, but her parents send her to a nearby private school. […]
Keeping an Eye on Her Abandoned Former Self
I am the resident Anne Tyler apologist here at CBR. I know she’s rather unpopular in these parts, but I love many of her books. Her prose and her characters’ inner lives often resonate with me. Her books comfort me, and I find them great company during difficult times. BUT–all that being said, I cannot and will not stand up for Ladder of Years and the truly despicable actions of the main character, Delia Grinstead. Delia, mother of three children (2 college aged and one […]
We are Stardust, We are Golden
Shadow Scale is the sequel to Seraphina, a book I reviewed a few months ago, which is easily one of the most original books I’ve read in a long time. Since it’s a sequel, Shadow Scale didn’t have quite the same feeling of magic and wonder, but I loved it all the same for giving me more time in this universe with these characters. These books take place in a kingdom called Goredd, in a world where humans and dragons co-exist, mostly peacefully (at least […]
The Cellar Door is an Open Throat
Last week I went to a conference in southern California. I took Kindred along, hoping to have time to read a few chapters. My first day there, I sat outside on my lunch break to read. I couldn’t put Kindred down (except, I had to in order to get back to the conference). I finished it before I came home. I read most of it sitting outside in a comfy chair, in beautiful weather. The contrast between my life and Dana’s at that moment felt […]
You Can Call it Fate or Chance, but We Made it Happen
The most interesting parts of history are the moments that probably seemed small at the time they happened, but whose effects rippled throughout the entire world. And I can’t think of a single period in history more full of those little moments all coming together to disastrous effect than the reign of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. Nicholas became the Tsar in 1894 and abdicated in 1917, during the World War I. Besides being the last Tsar of Russia, he and his wife […]
Locked Up in Myself, Never Gonna Get Free
The protagonist of Monster is Steve Harmon, a teenager on trial for murder. He is accused of being the lookout for a corner store robbery which ended in the death of the store owner. Steve is not accused of being the person who pulled the trigger, just the guy who signaled to the others that it was safe to enter the store, but he is still charged with murder. The story is framed as a screenplay he’s writing about his own life and his trial, […]
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