Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

New Cool Book Alert: The Thorn Key

The Thorn Key by Jeana Jorgensen

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The very cool Jeana Jorgensen – folklorist, professor, dancer, and sex educator – has published a gorgeous collection of her fairy tale themed poetry in her new book The Thorn Key! I love Jeana’s academic work. Her books Fairy Tales 101 and Folklore 101 are amazing introductions to both studies, teaching its readers a TON in a way that is fun and conversational. I should have reviewed those here LOL! If you have been interested in learning more about the history and study of fairy […]

Racism is a very real thing, even in Norway

Kvit, norsk mann (White Norwegian man) by Brynjulf Jung Tjønn

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Nowhere Bingo 2025: A poetry collection The author of this poetry collection was adopted from South Korea by a childless Norwegian couple when he was three years old. Throughout this rather short, but very impactful poetry collection, he writes about his constant feeling of exclusion and lack of belonging. As a child of Asian descent in a small western Norwegian village surrounded by white people, he obviously stood out among the other children. Adopted by farmers to take over their farm when they grew old, […]

“A queen offers her hand to be kissed; can form it into a fist while smiling the whole damn time.”

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

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One of the unexpected benefits of parenting my stepson is the introduction to books I wouldn’t know anything about. He’s a reluctant (but consistent) reader and I adore reading along with what he has for school, especially know that he’s at a high school level. Do we talk about the books? Absolutely not. But maybe someday he’ll take me up on the offer. (Fingers crossed). This was the summer reading book for sophomore honor’s English and neither of us started eagerly. I don’t read a […]

“Women without prospect, who lead dull earnest lives and rejoice in their petty little pseudo-pleasures, I find quite depressing and despicable.”

The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon, Meredith McKinney (Translator)

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CBR16 Bingo: Vintage – Not only is this a very old book (written about a thousand years ago!), but it is also very much of its time, cataloguing minute happenings in the Empress’s court and listing out the common tastes of the time. Once there was an empress who gave her attendant a bundle of writing paper for making a witty remark. To highlight what a cultured place this court was, the attendant decided to record an amusing hodgepodge of anecdotes, poetry, and things both […]

“Maybe all I need is a purpose.”

Singing With Elephants by Margarita Engle

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11-year-old Oriol wants to go back to Cuba. Ever since her grandmother died, she’s felt lost at her Santa Barbara, CA home. School is difficult, her older sister has less time for her since she got a boyfriend, and the only place she is truly happy is helping her parents at their veterinarian clinic. This clinic is no ordinary vet: her parents are specialty vets, assisting with wild and unique animals. In a show-biz state like California, they have a lot of work. One day, […]

“Nothing makes sense until it makes sense in the body”

Self-Portrait as Othello by Jason Allen-Paisant

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National poetry month demands some poetry reviews, and fortunately there’s no shortage of good poetry to engage with. Jason Allen-Paisant won last year’s T.S. Eliot Prize for his second collection, Self-Portrait As Othello. Allen-Paisant is originally from Jamaica, but also studied in Paris and earned his PhD in medieval literature at Oxford, and his familiarity with moving through these more rarefied, majority-white spaces in Europe prompts, in part, the identification with the figure of Othello that forms the center of this collection. Self-Portrait As Othello really […]



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