Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Friends since the 1940s

Are You a Friend of Dorothy?: The True Story of an Imaginary Woman and the Real People She Helped by Kyle Lukoff

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Are You a Friend of Dorothy?: The True Story of an Imaginary Woman and the Real People She Helped is by Kyle Lukoff and illustrated by Levi Hastings. I had hoped that it would be something different than the usual LGBTQ book, as I have read several and wanted more things. The fact that Lukoff is using the code phrase, “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” made it seem promising. And while they did not disappoint, as an adult reader, I’m still looking for more. […]

Stop being so…. gay

Blessed Cure by Mário Oliveira

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Triggers in Blessed Cure by Mário Oliveira include, but are not limited to: homophobia, homophobic language, homophobic actions, beatings, sexual images of genitalia and acts, prostitution, transphobia.  One man’s life from the 1960s to the 1990s (with the potential for a “now” setting) unfolds as he does everything in his power to not be “so gay.” (Which is  the nicest thing he is called in the book.) From parents blaming each other, doctors blaming parents, the church blaming everyone (especially the mother) to the man […]

I may have a new gold standard for romance.

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

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But here is Andy, laying himself bare, and Nick isn’t sure he’s ever seen anything so brave in his life. This is a man who plays it safe, a man who orders the same sandwich every day for lunch. And now he’s taking a risk, and he’s taking it for Nick. ― Cat Sebastian, We Could Be So Good “I’m not wasting time on things that make me sad.” He learned that lesson with Old Yeller, thank you very much. “Andy, you publish a newspaper. […]

“I don’t want to disappear. I want to exist in my body, with these new possibilities. Possibilities. Perhaps that is one of the main components of life lost to lack of representation. Options erased from the imagination. Narratives indoctrinated that we spend an eternity attempting to break. The unraveling is painful, but it leads you to you.”

Pageboy: A Memoir by Elliot Page

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 3 Book 8/30 This book will not give you outrage or gossip. It will not get you all tingly with stuff it feels like maybe you shouldn’t know, and you will end the book not knowing who several of the main players are, because Elliot values privacy and is a good person. This book is first and foremost the story of Elliot coming to terms with his gender identity and transness amid a world that devalues and dismisses it, […]

I am the tree and you are the bird. Fly off as you please, you will always come back to sit on my branches.

A Long Way from Douala by Max Lobe

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Pa had brought out our entire stock of beer. Simon, Roger and I had the job of serving. We ran to and fro between the kitchen, the living room and the porch. Our hi-fi pumped out old Makossa hits: our parents’ favorites. A few women neighbors of their generation, also wearing kaba ngondos, had begun shimmying in the empty space at the center of the room. They looked like they were showing off: you can’t dance the Makossa without showing off.” ― Max Lobe, A […]

an author unafraid to let the chips fall where they must

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler

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CWs, copied from the author: all the misogyny, all the homophobia, and a car accident death (offscreen, but discussed often) and also abortion/a miscarriage. I respect Dahlia Adler because while many authors have a tendency to write their romantic leads into a difficult situation (looking at you, innumerable romance novelists and also Linda Holmes), Adler has the guts to keep them there and not give them the “easy out.” In this case, the “star” quarterback of a middling-to-bad Texas football team dies in a car […]



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