Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A must read.

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

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“We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we victimize others. The closer we get to mass incarceration and extreme levels of punishment, the more I believe it’s necessary to recognize that we all need mercy, we all […]

An Indictment of the Court System

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

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Bingo Square: Adaptation (movie) I vaguely remember reading the movie review on Pajiba when this movie came out, and it described it as good but formulaic, so I didn’t go out of my way to watch it (not that I have been watching a lot of dramas to start with).  When it became free to rent, I decided to check it out, and while I can see why from a movie reviewer perspective one might describe it as formulaic, there is a reason for that […]

I don’t recommend reading them together

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

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Sometimes when I’m reading a book that is particularly tough, I’ll give my brain a break by switching to a different book every couple of chapters. This strategy quickly falls apart when one book is Just Mercy and the other is Women Talking, they kind of just egg each other on in the downward emotional spiral. Just Mercy is Bryan Stevenson’s memoir of the years he has spent as a pro bono death row lawyer in Alabama where they rival Texas in their enthusiasm for state-sponsored murder. I’m […]

A courtroom drama come to life.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

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After hearing Stevenson speak at the Global Leadership Summit and being moved to tears, I knew I needed to pick up his book, and it does not disappoint. Stevenson starts by telling his own story of becoming a lawyer and the events that prompted him to found the Equal Justice Initiative – an organization that provides legal counsel and advocates for those living on society’s margins, the poor, the wrongly convicted, and women & children who didn’t necessarily deserve the convictions they received. He paints […]

Oooph.

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I’m impressed, I was prepared for this book to be more of a downer than it was.  Make no mistake, this isn’t the one to pick up if you want to turn off your brain for something fluffy (not meant as an insult; some days I need fluffy books for just that reason; my next read after this might need to be for decompression, actually). But, for a book on the ways that race plays into the justice systemic racism finds a way to thrive […]

The System Sucks, But Some Are Fighting the Good Fight

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Best for: Someone interested in reading about the people fighting injustice, and those they are fighting for (both the innocent and the not so innocent). In a nutshell: Attorney Bryan Stevenson tells stories of his life fighting against a system set up to ignore the humanity in those who have been accused of – and sometimes committed – crimes. Line that sticks with me: (It’s a long one) “We emphasized the incongruity of not allowing children to smoke, drink, vote, drive without restrictions, give blood, […]



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