Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

This will be one of my CBR13 favorites

Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story; Remaking a Life From Scratch by Erin French

by Leave a Comment

Cbr13bingo Flora I would guess that fewer than 5% of the book reviews I’ve done over the years have been non-fiction, and I can only think of one that had anything to do with cooking, so reading a memoir about a chef (even though she calls herself a cook, not a chef) would seem way outside my area of interest. And yet, this memoir is probably going to be one of my CBR13 favorites. It is an incredible story of resilience in the face of […]

Remembering

Rememberings: Scenes From My Complicated Life by Sinead O’Connor

by Leave a Comment

Cbr13bingo Pandemic This book got a lot of attention when it was released a few months ago, largely because of a story O’Connor tells about Prince which puts him in a none-too-flattering light. As far as I’m concerned though this memoir is more impressive for the honesty and soul-bearing of its author. Full disclosure: I have been a fan of Sinead O’Connor since I first heard the single “Mandinka” in 1987/88. She is one of those female artists who have been kicked around over the […]

‘I’m shadowed by doubt that I didn’t have it bad compared to others. But racial trauma is not a competitive sport.’

Minor Feelings: A Reckoning on Race and The Asian Condition by Cathy Park Hong

by 4 Comments

This will be a tough one to review. Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings wasn’t just good – and it was unbelievably good. It was both recognizable – like a familiar friend who I just nodded along to as they spoke – and a revelation. She skillfully put into words a shade that has maybe always been super-imposed over my world view, feelings I never knew were nagging at me before. Her seven essays also covered so much ground that any review I write – and anything […]

“There are no true stories; there are only facts, and the stories we tell ourselves about those facts.” #CBRBINGO – People

We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence by Becky Cooper

by 2 Comments

I find most true crime stories helplessly fascinating. I know some people agonize over whether it is moral to be entertained by such stories, but I’ve never had that problem, and frankly think it’s a waste of time to think about the “morality” of what stories we consume. I think most people are drawn to true crime not because they get their jollies out by reveling in other people’s pain (though, there’s always a few . . . ) but because it speaks to our […]

“Some werewolves are hairy on the inside.”

Danse Macabre by Stephen King

by Leave a Comment

This was good, but it is very dated. He focuses on horror in the thirty year period of the 1950’s to the 1980’s, although he does have a foreword to the latest edition where he brings up more modern movies, but that’s only about thirty pages, and the rest of the 400 pages are still focused on horror that was all released before I was born (and I’ve never liked it enough to seek any of it out). It’s also less interesting to me personally […]

“I’m not sure what the difference is between sleeping and time travel”

Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson

by 3 Comments

4.5 stars CBR13 Bingo: Rep (features honest and sometimes graphic descriptions of life with a variety of mental and chronic illnesses) It’s no secret that Jenny Lawson, known online and to her followers as The Bloggess, suffers from a large number of ailments, both physical and mental. She has dealt with various kinds of chronic illness throughout her life and manages to be mostly very light-hearted and humourous about it. I chose to get this book in audio, because Jenny Lawson narrates her own books, […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo