Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Eighteen minutes. That’s how long you’ve got to hold ’em.

Tanqueray by Stephanie Johnson and Brandon Stanton

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Stephanie Johnson became famous later in life via the popular blog, “Humans of New York.” I learned of her a couple of months ago when a vignette of one of her stories showed up in my Instagram feed. It was the story of how she became a dominatrix in 1980’s New York. When I searched for more stories, I learned that she had a memoir titled Tanqueray, which was her burlesque stage name. Stephanie has a distinct voice, and Stanton did a lovely job of […]

For everyone who was born before us, your story matters.

Back Then: A queer journey back in time by Ralf König and Łukasz Majcher

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Read what the old gay uncles and lesbian aunts have to say in colorful picture stories. And let’s all continue to fight together so that this will never happen again. ― Ralf König, Back Then: A queer journey back in time CBR16 Bingo: Pride I picked this up a couple of months ago at a literary festival. Other than Heartstopper and other Alice Oseman books, I’ve never bought graphic novels or comic books. One of the illustrators was selling this book as well as her […]

How much of yourself you have to leave behind in order to look like everyone else

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

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I’m in this state of one-way desire. I feel this desire swarming in my belly and running up my spine. But I have to constantly contain and compress it so that it doesn’t betray me in front of others. Because I’ve already understood that desire is visible. ― Philippe Besson, Lie With Me I’m guessing that there was probably no bolt of lightning, just a warm night full of wine and fluttering moths and the feeling that nothing is really important and everything is possible. […]

“I go to the grave shared by my father and Jimmy. The question I get most, the one I hate, is why I went into his room. And why I helped people. Again and again, ‘Why did you do it? How?’ The answer is, How could I not?” (Bingo#1)

All the Young Men: a memoir of love, AIDS, and chosen family in the American South by Ruth Coker Burks, Kevin Carr O'Leary

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I read a lot of memoirs; I love listening to someone tell me their story. All the Young Men tells Ruth Coker Burks’ story as a young single mother in Hot Springs, Arkansas, who finds herself driven to the forefront of the AIDS crisis and becoming an activist in the fight against AIDS. Coker Burks story starts in the way that I think many of us hope we would respond – while visiting her friend recovering from cancer surgery, she notices nurses drawing straws to […]

what happens to the torch-bearers, the candle holders, the vigil keepers?

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

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There is so much that I want to tell you about this book, but I won’t. I took so many notes, and placed so many scraps of paper between pages, but I do not want to ruin a single realization for you. Rebecca Makkai has crafted an intricately woven tapestry that you have to witness in its full glory; I do not want to give you a magnifying glass before you have had a chance to first witness the enormity of the project. The Great Believers hits […]

Another book-club-recommended-rip-your-heart-out read

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

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Neither this book nor Rebecca Makkai was on my radar but this is the March selection of the ANUW (Association for Northwestern University Women) book club and they have never steered me wrong before. This book club is the reason I read Hillbilly Elegy, Between the World and Me, the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, and Radium Girls (and if you haven’t read these, add them all to your “to read” pile! Anyhoo, I digress. The Great Believers was another in the long line of books […]



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