Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A family saga that isn’t so Black and White

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

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Desiree and Stella Vignes are twin Black girls who grow up in 1940s Louisiana. They are from a very, very small town that has valued lighter skin for generations, and Desiree and Stella are very light. Wanted to escape their small town, Deisree and Stella run away from home to New Orleans to try and find their own paths in life away from what their community has decided for them. It is there that Stella decides to run away from her sister and begin passing […]

The Intersectional Autobiographical Approach to Understanding Racism

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

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Bingo review 10: Book Club I work at a regional state university. Earlier this summer, we got an email containing a book club invitation that will begin a series of events designed to reflect each of the institution’s official values. Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist was chosen in association with “adaptability”, and probably also in association with the current focus on race and racism in the US. According to the accompanying flyer, this group will meet monthly throughout the fall semester digitally, […]

Ironically titling this review ‘A Good Book’.

A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler

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This is one of those books that the more it sits with you, the worse you think of it. And I liked the book at first! It’s written in an engaging style, and the characters seem likable at first. It’s also not a long book, so it doesn’t feel like a burden to pick up. I got it as my April pick for Book of the Month, a particularly slim month for interesting choices, so I thought I would branch out a little from my […]

“He’s been here one hour, but already he feels like he has never lived anywhere else. And even if he doesn’t know who he was … he knows who he is.” #CBRBingo – UnCannon

The City We Became (Great Cities, #1) by N.K. Jemisin

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I feel like I do this every time I read an N.K. Jemisin book. Part of me wants to give it five stars, but I’m going to hold off until I see where it’s going to end up. I did that with The Fifth Season, too. (And I know when I go to do my re-read, I’m going to up that book to five stars.) I feel like every time I read one of her books, she does something that I’ve never seen before. It’s […]

“A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.”

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

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If we- and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others- do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world It is time to listen. James Baldwin had a voice unlike any other. He transcends country, creed, and time. His work is astonishing and terribly important. The […]

This one is for thinking, not for fun

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

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I wish I’d had more time with this novel but I had to give An Unkindness of Ghosts back to the library because someone else requested it. This means I may have had to rush reading a little and thus may not be as particular about the style and details as I might otherwise be. Here’s why this matters: this is not one of those books you read and enjoy. This is one of those books you read, either don’t exactly like or quite understand […]



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