Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Was It Really Friendship?

Mrs. Lincoln & Mrs. Keckley: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave by Jennifer Fleischner

Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave & Four Years in the White House by Elizabeth Keckley

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  While noodling on the internet one day, I came across an article about Mary Lincoln’s personal dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley. A former slave from Maryland who’d bought her own freedom, Keckley was a master mantua-maker who got herself the coveted position of dressmaker to the president’s wife. There was a little link at the bottom of the article about Keckley’s memoir, and it was too enticing to pass up. Happily, even though it was published in 1868, my library had a copy of it! The […]

The film is WAY better than the book

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

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#CBR12 Bingo: Adaptation (was turned into a movie in 2015 – the film is way better than the book) (Can also be read for Debut) Official book description: Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics.   Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.   Rachel has been […]

You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain

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CBR12Bingo – Friendship This is probably the tenth or so time I’ve read Huckleberry Finn, but the first time I have read it directly after reading the Adventure of Tom Sawyer, which changes things a little. Having re-read Tom Sawyer just previous to this, the very first thing that stands out is how much more the book seems to want to be doing. Tom Sawyer is about childhood and lampooning both the ways we talk about childhood, treat children, and write about childhood. Huckleberry Finn […]

Thank you, Emmalita, for yet another good romance recommendation! (BINGO #1)

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon

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#CBR12 Bingo: Fresh Start (the beginning of a new series, AND my first book by this author) It would also work really well for Cannonballer Says, Money! and Friendship I got a free ARC of this on Netgalley in return for an unbiased review. I also liked the book enough that I have now paid money to own it. Samiah Brooks is getting ready for a date, while her pregnant sister reads her hilarious updates from another woman’s disastrous first date on Twitter. Samiah is mortified to discover […]

Friends to lovers – but not the greatest of reads

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

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#CBR12 Bingo: Friendship (the friendship between the two protagonists and the rest of their group is really central to the story) Official book description: Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single. So when a routine university function turns into a black-tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that […]

Old toys aren’t discarded: They’re re-loved.

Dragon Meets Boy by Michael Slack

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cbr12bingo Repeat is: Dragon Meets Boy (because that cool purple/violet cover) The title is a direct quote from the Kirkus Reviews of 04/15/2020 Did you a) like Toy Story (especially Toy Story 3)? Or b) Did you cry when (spoiler) Andy gave Buzz and Woody to the little girl? Or c) Think Velveteen Rabbit has a good message? If you said yes, then you know a bit about Dragon Meets Boy and its (somewhat sad) ending. (Other spoiler: Dragon does not have the Rabbits fate […]



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