america – Page 2 – Cannonball Read 17

“It is very important to approach all unpleasant tasks in life as a performance art piece, especially if you are a teenager.”

Things to Do When You're Goth in the Country & Other Stories by Chavisa Woods

November 16, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Goth or not, country or not, if you have ever been a teenager then SOMETHING in this collection of stories will speak to you. Maybe you’ve never befriended a drug addict squatting in a mausoleum, and maybe you’ve never had a bad trip at a MENSA party hosted by your girlfriend’s parents, but there are definitely some teenage feelings rolling dark and deep in all of us! Chavis Woods has labeled and celebrated that feeling of “something more”; most notably in the titular story, “Things […]

News from back then

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

October 27, 2020 by TheShitWizard Leave a Comment

I’d previously read and loved The White Album, so when I saw Slouching Toward Bethlehem come up in a kindle sale I was very quick to click. A collection of essays from the the 1960’s, as with any book of essays this was something of a mixed bag for me, and having been born 10 years after its publication (as well as being English) I must admit that unfamiliarity with some of the people, places and things being written about meant I didn’t quite get […]

Small but mighty, a lot of heartache in a little book (Bingo – Friendship)

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

October 4, 2020 by cheerbrarian Leave a Comment

This novel is based on the true story of a boy’s reform school in Florida where abuse and mistreatment were rampant. And if that’s not enough, it’s also about the implications of race in such an environment, and how one black young man (Elmwood) essentially is railroaded into this awful place by being in the wrong place at the right time. The 2020 Pulitzer winner is not messing around. At it’s core, it is the story of the friendship that blossoms between Elmwood and Turner, […]

I take an odd sort of comfort in knowing that things in America have been just as bad, if not worse, than they are right now.

Shakespeare in a Divided America by James Shapiro

April 26, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

The 2016 election: we will eventually be far away from that time, but while we wait to heal we will continue to publish works – everything from tweets to films- about how it shaped our current situation. In 2017, the Delacorte Theater staged a production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in Central Park . Shakespeare had been done live in Central Park for years. Julius Caesar had been performed steadily around the world since it debuted in 1599. Caesar has taken on many depictions throughout the […]

now is the winter of our discontent

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

February 16, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

The Party Cloudy Patriot is a loose collection of essays cobbled into a narrative of sorts, and that narrative revolves around patriotism in current political times while framing through the lenses of the past. In this case, Sarah Vowell was living in the fresh hell of 2001; the country was still reeling from the disastrous election cycle that falsely awarded W the win, Clinton’s impeachment was still fresh and Al Gore’s know-it-all pigeonhole could not save the Left, and a day in September changed us in […]

CBRBingo – Banned Books. THUG Life = Real life

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

September 28, 2019 by cheerbrarian Leave a Comment

The fact this is a banned book makes me annoyed. Banning it for language, for violence because you don’t think youth should be exposed to that? Okaaaay. I mean, the world is violent but I am aware and intentional of what media and entertainment I let my kid consume, so fine. But banning it for BEING ANTI-COP??? THAT IS MISSING THE ENTIRE POINT OF THOMAS’ BOOK, and SIDING WITH RACISM. So, when I saw the Banned Book square in CBR Bingo, I knew just what […]

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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