Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

suggested listening: “lemonworld” the national

Normal People by Sally Rooney

by 4 Comments

Normal People is the feeling that immediately takes hold in your hands when you first pull away from someone that you love. It’s the deep, dull ache that comes from within your bones. The only way to ease the sensation is to try to take slow breaths- but you can’t and they rock through your lungs short and ragged. It’s packing up your car and driving away without an idea of when or how you’ll ever be near that person again. It’s the feeling when you […]

Sugar, Spice, and Things that go Bump in the Night

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

by Leave a Comment

Helen Oyeyemi is an expert in pulling back the cobwebs from the old trunk in the attic, shaking out the goods within, and daring you to take a good strong look. She weaves familiar fairly tales with Yoruba folktales, inter-generational family strife, and good old fashioned 21st century anxiety. In her most recent novel, Gingerbread, she leaves spicy breadcrumbs of Hansel and Gretel, the Gingerbread Man, and many other traditional tales. I was also strongly reminded of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Orsinian Tales. Oyeyemi’s characters present […]

a slight peek into the obscured past

Costalegre by Courtney Maum

by Leave a Comment

The concept of capital-A ART reigns lavishly above the characters within Costalegre. A woman and her daughter, stand-ins for Peggy and Pegeen Guggenheim, go to Mexico to wait out the steamroller of World War II. They are surrounded by the mother’s collection of artists and hangers-on. They wait for a steamship full of the mother’s collection of art which may still be creeping across the ocean towards their hideaway in the jungle. The mother’s collection is full of people and pieces deemed to be unworthy; Europe did […]

Summer Days…of privilege, learning, and growth

No Ivy League by Hazel Newlevant

by Leave a Comment

I really want to be the kind of person that listens to NPR. It’s an elusive goal of mine that remains so, I have tried and I just can’t do it. I tell myself it’s because I can’t stand starting in the middle of something, so jumping to that dial on my commute is an ill prospect but I’m grasping at straws. I just have come to understand that I’m not that kind of grown up. However, my husband is a big fan, so legally […]

Maggie Thrash: Girl trying to understand

Lost Soul, Be at Peace by Maggie Thrash

by Leave a Comment

Lost Soul, Be at Peace is not an easy read. This time, Maggie Thrash has created a graphic novel that is more fantastical than Honor Girl was. Instead of dealing with the issues camp, friends and coming to terms with one’s sexuality in a realistic and relatable way, she has created something that deals with the past and ghosts. Even the living ones. How can there be a living ghost? That is the plot point. Based on Thrash’s own experiences, this time our character Maggie […]

One of the top most 100 banned books of the decade! (2013)

What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

by Leave a Comment

CBR11Bingo – Banned Books Sophie has two lives – the one her mother knows, and the one Sophie hides. The one Mother knows is the sad one. The miserable home life Sophie spends as the only child of two people who hate each other. Her mother is deeply depressed, spending more time with General Hospital than with the family. Her father is cold and distant, unless he and mom are screaming at each other. But in her other life, the one her mother doesn’t need […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo