Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

What did Marmee’s husband do during the war?

March by Geraldine Brooks

by Leave a Comment

Cbr11bingo Birthday. Geraldine Brooks was born September 14, 1955. Bingo #9 Geraldine Brooks’ 2006 novel March is a brilliant Civil War novel that imagines the lives of Marmee and Mr. March, the parents of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Brooks, a journalist by trade, has a history of writing thoroughly researched and highly imaginative fiction. I’ve read most of her novels and they have all been superb. Year of Wonders, Caleb’s Crossing and People of the Book are all fantastic. I know I read March […]

Necessary Trouble

by 2 Comments

I try to give myself a healthy reading diet, and part of that diet is books from the point of view of people who do not experience the world the same way my privilege as a cis white woman allows. When I picked up March: Book One it felt in many ways a basic history, an introduction to world that I was already relatively familiar with, even though it was not my own. If Book One is a primer then Book Two is a call […]

March On

by Leave a Comment

I have loved Representative Lewis since studying about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and their role in the sit-ins, freedom rides, and the 1963 March on Washington. While the March on Washington is most often remembered today as the location of Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have a Dream speech, earlier that day in his role as National Chairman of SNCC John Lewis spoke, giving an inflammatory speech that nearly had other speakers pulling out of the March. When I heard last year that […]

The Anti-Gone with the Wind

by Leave a Comment

This book is sort of like a combination of Cold Mountain and Gilead. And I mean that as a good thing because I really like both of those novels. The premise is that this novel tells the lost story of Mr. March, the father figure of Little Women while he is off to war. It’s told as a personal narrative from Mr. March’s perspective, with a small section near the end in the voice of Ms. March. March doesn’t go to fight in the war but to be […]

Make Good Trouble

by Leave a Comment

The March Trilogy, winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, is a first-hand account of the civil rights movement in the United States as told by one of its leaders, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia. These graphic novels span the years 1960-65 and are presented as John Lewis’ recollections on January 20, 2009 — the day of President Obama’s first inauguration. This is an amazing memoir that is not only accessible to young readers, but would most likely be an eye-opener […]

Student Reads: March

by Leave a Comment

I guess I am not 100% sure what to make of this one. It’s very good, without a doubt, truly it’s very good. And while one of my students did read it and enjoy it, I was the one who mentioned it to her. And he response was basically, well I liked it, but it wasn’t fun. And I think that about sums it up. It’s very very good and interesting to be sure. I learned some things too, or rather was reminded of things […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo