Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About vel veeter

CBR 8
CBR 9
CBR10 participant
CBR11 participant
CBR12 participant
CBR13 participant
CBR14 Participant
CBR14 Bingo Badges
CBR15 Participant

vel veeter's Reviews:

In the young man’s earliest memories, whenever they visited Great-Momma Sweetie Reed–as Nathaniel and his father Arthur Witherspoon did that morning on June 5, 1944, after Grandfather Witherspoon’s death…

Two Wings to Veil my Face by Leon Forrest

by Leave a Comment

This is another book, or here author, that I learned about from reading the collected letters of Ralph Ellison. He comes into those letters when Ellison is asked to give notes on a book about to be published by an imprint that Toni Morrison is running in the early 1970s and Ellison is so enthusiastic in his reaction to the book that they ask to use it for the book’s introduction. That’s high praise as Ellison is a thorough and skilled reader and many of […]

There was a chinaberry tree in the front yard of that house in those days, and in early spring the showers outside that window always used to become pale green again.

Train Whistle Guitar by Albert Murray

by Leave a Comment

This is one of those books that I can’t entirely tell if I liked all that much, but also that if you told it was actually really good, I would believe you. It’s not entirely that it was “over my head” so much is outside of my experience, especially in terms of language and style, that I didn’t find it as joyous to read as a lot of other readers seem to. That said, it’s clearly up to something impressive that I cannot deny it. […]

On November 16, 2018, I officially ended my bid to become the next governor of Georgia.

Lead from the Outside by Stacey Abrams

by 1 Comment

CBR12 Bingo – How To So obviously Stacey Abrams got robbed. She mentions this pretty early on, and if you’re unaware, the idea that her opponent in the race for governor was also the presiding election official, in a state that is gerrymandered to hell, and suppresses the crap out of the Black vote is beyond satire in its ridiculousness. The additional fact the Kemp has allowed so many people to die from Covid through corruption and ineptitude (he’s clearly an almost travesty of a […]

It was in the spring of the year that Matthew reached twelve that I first became aware of Chocky.

Chocky by John Wyndham

by Leave a Comment

I feel like Americans are not super aware of John Wyndham in the way that he has some real fame in the UK. So I had never heard of this novel until it was reprinted by the NYRB a few years back. And except for a library VHS copy of The Day of the Triffids, I’d otherwise heard of John Wyndham. So this book begins with Matthew, the narrator’s twelve year old son developing an imaginary friend. The narrator hears Matthews arguing with Chocky in some […]

The room was divided in two by a black railing.

Maigret's First Case by Georges Simenon

Maigret Defends Himself by Georges Simenon

by Leave a Comment

Maigret’s First Case It should be noted that if you start with this book, you’re jumping into a 75 book series at book 30. Oddly, this doesn’t matter all that much except for this book, and the other book I read recently Maigret Defends Himself. The reason for both of these weird facts is that one, the first ten or so of the Maigret novels were also published in same year (1931) and they are almost interchangeable in terms of order. They also all start years […]

Ray is thirty-three and he was born of decent religious parents, I say.

Ray by Barry Hannah

Lt's Theory of Pets by Stephen King

by Leave a Comment

Ray – 4/5 Stars A small novel from the Mississippi writer Barry Hannah, and not a first novel, though it feels that way at times. I was a told a story that may very well be true or apocryphal about the writing of this novel. According to my source, that is both reliable and unreliable in different, Barry Hannah turned in something like 600 pages worth of writing for this book, and his editor whittled it down to this slim 125 version. I have read […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo