Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

If you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em!

The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan

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CBR15passport – a book you own I am making my way through the Brothers Sinister series and I have really enjoyed them all so far but this one might end up being my favorite because of its heroine. Jane Fairfield is a boss. She is life goals. The theme running throughout this novel is outsiders and how they function within power structures. The historical setting for this novel (1867) revolves around the mid-19th century franchise movement in England, that is, the efforts to expand voting […]

The Genealogy of Southern Cooking

The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty

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This is a book that showcases my shortcomings as a reviewer. I really enjoyed listening to this book, but am struggling to write about it. It is a memoir, a history of southern cuisine and a book on genealogy. Twitty reads the book himself which works well because the book is a very personal journey. He describes himself as an “obsessive cook with compulsive genealogist tendencies who can point to a map of Africa, Europe, North America, and with it, the South, and guide you […]

She who dealt it should admit it…

Super-Serious Mysteries V01: The Untimely Passing of Nicholas Fart by Josh Crute

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CBR15Passport, different format (detective novel, humor and graphic novel form)   As advertised. Farts. Puns. More farts. Along with some crappy tea. And did I mention, there is a funky soup and cake? It is a birthday party after all, but someone (or thing) has raised a stink. Will this group of friends, with one very determined best friend (slash) detective out to find the culprit, find out who dealt it? Or will the party be a pooper? I do not know who Josh Crute […]

“Robert Isaksson from the next village over was a reindeer killer.”

Stolen: A Novel by Ann-Helen Laestadius, trans. Rachel Willson-Broyles

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CBR15passport books from different countries (Sweden/Sapmi) Stolen, by Ann-Helen Laestadius, is a novel that is dark, disturbing and based in reality. It is the fictional story of Elsa, a 9-year-old Sami girl, who witnesses the brutal killing of her reindeer calf and is then threatened with death by the man who did it. But Stolen is also the real story of the Sami, an indigenous minority whose lives, culture and history are tied to herding reindeer and who have been persecuted by their neighbors for […]

Food, friendship, high school

Supper Club by Jackie Morrow

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CBR15Passport,(other format food as fiction story) If you want a teen graphic novel that is a funny, cute story of how food helps three friends deal with the ups and downs of being a senior in high school, a friend, and family member you need Supper Club.  Jackie Morrow’s story has one of those aged 10-to-14 feeling, but the subject matter is slightly on the older side (13/14 up). Still, I think a strong 10- to 12-year-old would be fine, as I am sure they […]

Her name was Jacqueline Gauthier Judith Geller, and more

Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the Holocaust. by Elisa Boxer

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CBR15Passport  other format (memoir as fiction)   Her name was Jacqueline Gauthier (among others) she had many secrets (one had to do with a toy duck), and she would help save people’s lives. Gauthier was really Judith Geller, a Jewish teen who pretended to be a Christian social worker. She would deliver papers to other Jewish families to help them be safer in France, or even help them escape the country all together. She was part of the French Resistance, she would lose dozens of […]



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