African-American – Page 2 – Cannonball Read 17

Black AF History: Boring…AF? (Or Maybe Just Hard To Read)

Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot

January 31, 2024 by jessisreading 3 Comments

I will come right out of the gate and say I approached this book the wrong way. I thought it was going to be more of a straight-through read, and it’s definitely something to read in chunks instead. Otherwise everything gets overwhelming and your brain just…shuts down. So perhaps for someone who didn’t try to power through it in a few weeks, or maybe even for someone who listened to the audiobook in its entirety, this book wasn’t…Boring AF. But I definitely found myself wandering […]

Follow the rules. Get Revenge.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and Danica Novgorodoff

October 24, 2022 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I was not sure I was going to like the graphic novel version of Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. It started out oddly, slow, and frankly a tad uninteresting. (Semi-spoiler) even the death of one character was not grabbing. It was not until the main character seeks revenge did things get intriguing. The way the character is going to/getting revenge, the way they are slowly building to a climax (that makes the information come to light, showing the foreshadowing), the way the other characters […]

Long review for a short, interesting book

I’m a Wild Seed by Sharon Lee de la Cruz

August 17, 2022 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

The graphic novel I’m a Wild Seed was a book I really wanted to enjoy. After all, it is part of a new (to me) publisher where I have enjoyed and respected their message in other books read. But, while I appreciate everything Sharon Lee de la Cruz said and created, their story did not resonate with me a hundred percent. I am starting off with, I thought de la Cruz identified as They, but the author biography (and praise of the book) does say […]

When Langston Found Langston

Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome

March 30, 2021 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome is an interesting look at the late 1940s, Chicago, growing up and literature that was way too short. I would have enjoyed more of the history of the time and seen a bigger connection to the two people called Langston. Still, I enjoyed what I read but, like I said, there needed to be more: more of the history of the times (Why were the black families moving north? Why were the soldiers were coming back? Even the fact that […]

Took a “year” to read, but a lifetime for the poet to live

The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde

January 4, 2021 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I was given The Black Unicorn: Poems by Audre Lorde a few years ago as a Cannonball book exchange gift. Like so many of my books, it was misplaced for a bit (I am not the most organized person to be frank), but recently found it hidden among other lost souls. I started reading this collection of poetry from 1978 (my edition revised in 1995) in 2020 and finished last night (January 3, 2021). Took a whole year! (Okay, year jokes over). Why did this […]

Life Through Poetry

Ain’t Never Not Been Black by Javon Johnson

December 8, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Ain’t Never Not Been Black is a book I wish I did not have to rate. It is a personal read about the journey one person (our poet Javon Johnson) takes growing up a black and living as a black man in this country. It is well written in straight forward poems that combine the dark and hope of this journey. Johnson’s words are not set for anyone group of people. All people can relate to and learn from his words. The straight forwardness of […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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