Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I didn’t do justice to these books, so ignore my review and just get copies of the books!

Growing Up under a Red Flag: A Memoir of Surviving the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Ying Chang Compestine

My Name Is Long as a River by Suma Subramaniam

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I had the reading bug the other day, and found two books that are different, but important to know about. Both were read via online reader copies, and are future publications. I did have some trouble writing a review for them, as I wanted to do the subjects justice. I hope you, come Spring, pick up copies and enjoy, too. Growing Up under a Red Flag: A Memoir of Surviving the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Ying Chang Compestine is an eye opening look at the […]

Don’t assume you know by the cover

The Ramadan Drummer by Sahtinay Abaza

Arthi’s Bomma by Mamta Nainy

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I have read several books on Ramadan and on India (not together, but the theme of the review is different takes on familiar areas). They were starting to blend together (I was talking about one book and realized that I was combining two different ones). Therefore, when I saw The Ramadan Drummer I was both interested and assumed it would be “just another Ramadan story.” Which, it was not. Sahtinay Abaza’s story starts out similarly to other Ramadan stories, in which the young boy of […]

Languages for the power

My Mother's Tongues: A Weaving of Languages by Uma Menon

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My Mother’s Tongues: A Weaving of Languages is a clever story of a young girl and her family’s talents with languages. Well, her mother can speak two different languages. She has one for her mother and daughter, and another for the cashier. However, sometimes the two are mixed. And the young girl explores her family and how they learned to speak several languages, and what that means. The connection between the generations is sweet and the cultural connections are delightful to learn. Uma Menon introduces […]

The world in your hands

A Garden in My Hands by Meera Siram

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I have found several picture books of late. One of them, A Garden in My Hands is a sweet, contemporary book that explores the Indian culture of one child’s family. While the mother of the story shares her own stories about the family, their culture, and more, the little girl watches them come alive as her mother applies to her hands some henna. There is a little humor and a lot of love. Meera Siram has tapped into a special world to share with those […]

It’s time for the girls to get the job done

Aru Shah and the End of Time: the Graphic Novel by Roshani Chokshi

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Step aside all you Pandavas (heroes), Aru (and Mini) are in town! Aru Shah and the End of Time: the Graphic Novel is a heavy feminist take on the hero/heroine story arc. Two Indian American girls (who are two of the reincarnated Pandava brothers who battled in a civil war with their 1000 cousins), must battle mythical beings, with help from the Gods that claim them. With quirky humor mixed in, this heavy on text graphic novel has some fun illustrations, interesting adventures and a […]

History and its Bastards. Greedy, Greedy Bastards.

King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. by Adam Hochschild

The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple

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I think I am going to spend my Memorial Day weekend writing about history. And it’s not going to be about the nice bits of history, either. I have been holding off on a number of these reviews because sometimes the subject matter was just a little too depressing. At best, we are dealing with a conga line of arseholes. At best. And at worst? Well, we’re dealing with some pretty bad ‘at worsts’ here…  The first book is Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost: A […]



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