Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Disintegration Station

The Promise by Damon Galgut

October 26, 2022 by Zirza Leave a Comment

South Africa, 1987. As the country is in the death throes of Apartheid, defiantly buckling under the weight of an international boycott, a Jewish woman named Rachel Swart, mother of three and wife to farmer Herman ‘Manie’ Swart, dies of an unnamed disease. She makes her husband promise to gift the little shack on the back of her property to Salome, their maid. Amor, their youngest daughter, overhears them. After Rachel’s death the promise seems all too soon forgotten; they seem surprised whenever Amor brings […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: apartheid, Booker prize, Booker prize 2021 shortlist, Damon Galgut, Satire, south africa, the promise

Zirza's CBR14 Review No:46 · Genres: History · Tags: apartheid, Booker prize, Booker prize 2021 shortlist, Damon Galgut, Satire, south africa, the promise ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

The Horrors of Replacement Theory Conspiracists

Weeping Waters by Karin Brynard

July 8, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

Some have pegged Karin Brynard as the “South African Stieg Larsson.” For good and not so good reasons, I can see why. I’m not an expert on South Africa. I know the broad strokes of the fall of apartheid and how it functioned before the rise of President Mandela, but as far as how the country is adapting today, I’m mostly clueless. I have no doubt that a herrenvolk government doesn’t just switch to multicultural democracy overnight, and that South Africans are probably several generations […]

Filed Under: Mystery Tagged With: Albertus Beeslaar, apartheid, Karin Brynard, mystery, Racism, Rural, south africa, Weeping Waters

Jake's CBR13 Review No:103 · Genres: Mystery · Tags: Albertus Beeslaar, apartheid, Karin Brynard, mystery, Racism, Rural, south africa, Weeping Waters ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

CBRBingo – Award Winner – Trevor Noah Triumphs!

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

October 30, 2019 by cheerbrarian Leave a Comment

Let’s be honest. CBR Bingo has been a boon, and a pill to swallow. I have read great things that I wouldn’t have because of it, but also maddeningly tried to shoehorn things I planned to read into these categories. Well, I am excited to share a trifecta of sorts! This is a book that I wanted to read, because I had friends rave about it, it is a selection of my local library book club, AND it fits into a bingo square! A number […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Comedy/Humor Tagged With: apartheid, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, cbr11bingo, humor, Trevor Noah

cheerbrarian's CBR11 Review No:39 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Comedy/Humor · Tags: apartheid, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, cbr11bingo, humor, Trevor Noah ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Bringing colour and life to a childhood under apartheid

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

February 26, 2019 by Wanderlustful Leave a Comment

In the world of celebrity memoirs, this book is a gem.  Although Noah gives us bits and pieces of how he got from the ‘hoods of Johannesburg to replacing Jon Stewart on the Daily Show (ie: being the funny guy to avoid being an outcast), his book is really about growing up mixed race under apartheid in South Africa.  The stories are sometimes almost too wild to believe (he was pushed from a moving car to escape a potential murder or assault, the domestic violence described […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Comedy/Humor, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #BornACrime, #memoir, #SouthAfrica, #TrevorNoah, apartheid, Race

Wanderlustful's CBR11 Review No:8 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Comedy/Humor, Non-Fiction · Tags: #BornACrime, #memoir, #SouthAfrica, #TrevorNoah, apartheid, Race ·
· 0 Comments

Why are we born, if not to help each other?

December 16, 2018 by Fiat.Luxury 1 Comment

Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Africa, Alan Paton, apartheid, cry the beloved country, Love, south africa

Fiat.Luxury's CBR10 Review No:6 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Africa, Alan Paton, apartheid, cry the beloved country, Love, south africa ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Want to fall in love with Trevor Noah?

October 18, 2018 by thewheelbarrow 6 Comments

I’d read good things about this book for a little while but I assumed it was just another comedian celebrity writing a book to make some money.  Since I usually spend money on those exact books, I bought this with one of my first Audible credits.  I’ve always thought that comedians who read their own books are the very best of narrators so it seemed like a safe pick.  I’d watched the Daily Show with Trevor a few times.  A little less often than I […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction Tagged With: apartheid, Daily Show, south africa, Trevor Noah

thewheelbarrow's CBR10 Review No:40 · Genres: Audiobooks, Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction · Tags: apartheid, Daily Show, south africa, Trevor Noah ·
Rating:
· 6 Comments
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