Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“To be adopted is to know only the rewritten story, one of an infinite number possible”

All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung

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Nicole Chung was born prematurely and adopted by a white couple in a small Oregon town. Growing up as the only Korean person anyone knew – including herself – she struggled with how she fit in. Her adoption story was full of love and comfort. Nicole had been so tiny, her birth parents weren’t able to care for her. They thought adoption was the best thing for her. As a child, she of course agreed. Growing up, she had more questions about her birth family […]

A graphic memoir about pregnancy, but worth reading even if you don’t want to ever be pregnant.

Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos by Lucy Knisley

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I always feel the same way when I finish a new Lucy Knisley book. It’s so weird to have followed her since the very beginning of her career (through a stroke of luck, I’ve followed her blog from the beginning, before she published a book, because a friend also followed her), to essentially watch her life progress without having spoken a single word to her. (This is especially true since I started following her on Instagram after her son was born. She’s been posting lots […]

A mixed bag, but in the end it won me over

Believe Me: a memoir of love, death, and jazz chickens by Eddie Izzard

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Another shout-out for the little free libraries of Burbank, CA! This book is a roller coaster, if your idea of a roller coaster starts out as insanely boring with bits of really interesting insight and a few chuckles along the way that leaves you with more questions than answers. I realize that is not a resounding endorsement, but I’m giving this book  3 stars because in spite of many flaws I found it rather inspiring. I’m going to be kind of hard on it though, […]

“I’ma wade through the waters. Tell the tide ‘don’t move'”

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors

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This book was a very difficult but necessary read. It belongs in college curricula and book clubs. Your racist family members should read it but never will, though you can get a couple of fact bombs from the book to drop in the middle of an awkward Thanksgiving dinner. This memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors will give a deeper understanding of the often fraught nature of modern Black life in America and firsthand account of the #blacklivesmatter movement. One of the most significant activist groups of […]

What happens to a dream deferred?

Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem by Daniel R. Day

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Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review. This book will be released on July 9, 2019.  What happens to a dream deferred?       Does it dry up       like a raisin in the sun?       Or fester like a sore—       And then run?       Does it stink like rotten meat?       Or crust and sugar over—       like a syrupy sweet?       Maybe it just sags       like a heavy load. Or does it explode? Langston Hughes Wow. So it’s funny that I […]

…Nearly every American hungers to move

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

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John Steinbeck is 58 and he feels like he’s lost touch with America. He used to know his country, even write books about it, but now he’s unsure. The only sensible thing to do, of course, it to buy a customized truck and set out on a ginormous road trip across America ‘where the people are’ and get to know them all again. I, an American writer, writing about America, was working from memory, and the memory is at best a faulty, warpy reservoir. I […]



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