Cuba – Cannonball Read 17

Coming of age during the Cuban Revolution

How to Say Goodbye in Cuban by Daniel Miyares

July 29, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Cbr17bingo Border (leaving Cuba’s borders is dangerous, entering the US boarding is difficult) While a tense story, How to Say Goodbye in Cuban by Daniel Miyares, is also a delightful one of overcoming the adversity of the times. Though immigration stories are not new, the author makes this based on real events (his own fathers journey from Cuba to the States) fresh. This is a relatively unknown story as I have not seen a lot of stories that were set so much in Cuba with little […]

“Maybe all I need is a purpose.”

Singing With Elephants by Margarita Engle

May 22, 2024 by cosbrarian Leave a Comment

11-year-old Oriol wants to go back to Cuba. Ever since her grandmother died, she’s felt lost at her Santa Barbara, CA home. School is difficult, her older sister has less time for her since she got a boyfriend, and the only place she is truly happy is helping her parents at their veterinarian clinic. This clinic is no ordinary vet: her parents are specialty vets, assisting with wild and unique animals. In a show-biz state like California, they have a lot of work. One day, […]

And I thought my dad had some CRAZY recipes

Old Clothes for Dinner?! by Nathalie Alonso

September 15, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Magaly loves her grandmother (newly living with her family) from Cuba. She loves her grandmother’s Cuban dishes. She loves speaking Spanish with her grandmother. But when she asks her grandmother what is for dinner one day, she gets the answer of “ropa vieja.” Which she understands to mean (in her decent, but second language, Spanish) Old Clothes for Dinner?! And since she cannot find her favorite sweater, nor her brother his favorite striped shirt (loved and worn so much there are holes in them) well, […]

Well-behaved women seldom make history

Rima's Rebellion: Courage in a Time of Tyranny by Margarita Engle

January 19, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

CBR15Passport Book I own Rima’s Rebellion: Courage in a Time of Tyranny is an interesting book. First, it is prose poetry and while that is usually a good thing for me, I am not sure this was the best format for the subject. Second, it is confusing what age(s) it is aimed for. The tone of the book is for a middle-grade reader (at least aged 10 and up), but the subject matter is more mature. If this was Margarita Engle’s first novel, that bump […]

Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba & Then Lost it to the Revolution by T.J. English

June 1, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

No doubt about it: T.J. English is one of our great gangster chroniclers. Here he takes on a crime story with an added degree of difficulty: the mob’s role in Cuba’s casinos just as Fidel Castro was ascending to power, changing the island (and, frankly, American politics) forever. I know next-to-nothing about the Cuban Revolution so take that for what it’s worth; my competency in fact checking English’s work here is not up to a high standard. Still, I felt like English did a great […]

https://everyday-offershub.com/2022/06/havana-nocturne-how-the-mob-owned-cuba-then-lost-it-to-the-revolution-jake/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cfooter class="entry-footer">

Filed Under: History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #history, Cuba, cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, Fulgencio Batista, Havana, Havana Nocturne, mafia, Meyer Lansky, Santo Trafficante, T.J. English, true crime

Jake's CBR14 Review No:96 · Genres: History, Non-Fiction · Tags: #history, Cuba, cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, Fulgencio Batista, Havana, Havana Nocturne, mafia, Meyer Lansky, Santo Trafficante, T.J. English, true crime ·

Soldier For Fortune

Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler and the Making and Breaking of the American Empire by Jonathan M. Katz

April 26, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

An excellent read and an infuriating read. Worth all five stars. And like Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction and Ackerman’s Reign of Terror, you’re guaranteed to be peeved on every page. I knew the United States had a colonizing history dating back, well really to its foundation through the US-Mexican War of the 1840s, but more specifically from the end of the 19th century onwards. I knew that we captured many islands in the Caribbean and Pacific respectively, even if I didn’t know the hows-and-whys. Jonathan M. Katz does […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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