Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Beauty and the Beast, Shackled

Marvelous by Molly Greeley

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CBR 15 Bingo: Bodies, Bodies – Most everyone in this book is concerned with Petrus’s body – specifically the coat of hair that covers all of it. Pedro, a young boy with the rare condition that caused him to be covered with hair from head to foot, is bought as a gift for the French king, and eventually is married to Catherine, the beautiful daughter of a penniless merchant. I have heard of the story of Petrus Gonsalvus, but only in passing, merely the fact […]

When Nathan Found Himself

Call Me Nathan by Catherine Castro

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I was going to call this review, The Girl with a Justin Bieber Haircut. But this book is more than just about a haircut. I mention that, however, to give you a time frame of when things are set. Therefore, if you are looking for a solid book about a trans person coming of age with who he really is, Call Me Nathan might be what you need. However, due to graphic images and triggers (such as self-harm, sexual situations, and body dysmorphia issues) this […]

Both influential and overlooked

Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis by Tom Humberstone

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CBR15Passport Own While I was on a short vacation, I finished a fictional novel of a little-known black dancer of the 1840s, William Henry Lane, or Master Juba. And I guess I was in the mood for stories of real, but not necessarily extremely famous people, because then I started Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis. Which is a memoir of Suzanne Lenglen, a French female tennis player. She was known, at the time worldwide, but she was not necessarily known for her tennis […]

I’ve been on all sides of this story

So Much for Love: How I Survived a Toxic Relationship by Sophie Lambda

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CBR15Passport,already own It might have been ironic or appropriate that I finished this book on Valentine’s Day. But regardless, So Much for Love: How I Survived a Toxic Relationship Sophie Lambada’s memoir is a very strong, humorous, serious, clever, delightful read. Lambda’s journey is inspiring, relatable, and thoughtful. The amazing art that is both funny and powerful, gives the emotion of the words that are packed into fast-paced pages (it only took me two days to read, and had I started earlier in the evening, […]

I think I’ll swear off fries thanks

Boris the Potato Child by Anne Simon

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CBR15Passport author new to me. The publisher description says almost all you need to know about Boris the Potato Child: “a bitter critique of our consumerist impulses and abuses.” Anne Simon created a book that can be violent, exploitative, perverted, and triggering. It is dark, ugly, and powerful. Regardless of if you love or hate, it is a story that can make you think. And Jenna Allen’s translation feels smooth. Outside of a few little quirks, you cannot tell this was not originally English. Of […]

A very emotional read

Down to the Bone: A Leukemia Story by Catherine Pioli

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Author and illustrator Catherine Pioli chronicled her journey as a leukemia patient in Down to the Bone: A Leukemia Story. At first, I thought it would be some “sad sack poor me” story. I was wonderfully surprised it was nothing like that. I wasn’t halfway through this graphic novel (reading a reader copy online through Edelweiss) before I know it was going to be a five. And unless some huge middle finger happened it would stay a five for the sheer power of it. Instead, […]



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