Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Controversial but compelling

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

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My Dark Vanessa is a complicated and controversial book- it is akin to a modern retelling of Lolita from Lolita’s perspective.  Oprah picked it for her book club (cbr12bingo!) and then dropped it when controversy arose- after American Dirt she maybe wasn’t keen for another controversial book so soon (FYI: the controversy was due to allegations that Russell had stolen the real life story of a Latina woman- since disproved via Russell disclosing her own childhood abuse). The story is a first person narrative that […]

“Any questions? Comments? Last-minute genius ideas? Prayers, hymns, interpretive dances?”

The Disasters by M.K. England

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My reading intake has dropped off considerably since May, but book club kept me with my hand in the game so to speak, because I really enjoyed my first choice, The Disasters by M.K. England. This book ended up on our selection list because I saw an interesting write-up about it and thought hey, I want to read that book. Sometimes it pays to be the Book Club Maven. (I also read I Hope You Get This Message , I had previously read The Long […]

A Thoughtful Read

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

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The best word I could find for The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall is thoughtful.  I know that is strange and I am certain I have never described a book as thoughtful before, but it fits so well. The Dearly Beloved is the story of Charles and Lily and James and Nan, two couples with minister husbands.  The book tells their complete stories from their meetings in college, their marriages, and their lives as co-ministers at a New York City church in the turbulent 60’s.  […]

Book Club Discussion: The Future is Queer!

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The time has arrived, I’ve been looking forward to The Future is Queer book club since we hatched the idea late last year. What better way to celebrate Pride than to focus on some speculative fiction by and about LGBTQ folks. Whether you read one or all four of our options, I hope you find something below that sparks your interest so we can continue to enjoy talking about books together. On to the boilerplate: ground rules remain the same as they always have. For […]

Another good one to thank #CannonBookClub for

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

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This was so good, but so hard. I did not go into it expecting fluff, but damn. I started reading it right after watching the first episode of the Snowpiercer TV show, and finished it on the last night we had a city-wide curfew because of protests and riots. An interesting cocktail of race/class topics. I usually use fiction as an escape, but knowing that so many of the awful things that happened on the ship happened for real, and then surfacing from the book […]

Reminder! The Future is Queer #CannonBookClub is Coming Soon!

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We’re a little more than two months out from our next book club on June 19th and 20th. For our June book club  we’ll be celebrating Pride Month the Cannonball way with a The Future is Queer book club focusing on speculative and science fiction written by queer authors and/or featuring queer characters.  Since the world has gone into a more protective mode in response to our current pandemic, books might be a little harder to come by, or you may have found your reading […]



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