Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Why It’s So Hard for this White Person to right this review

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

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Robin DiAngelo is a white woman writing about racism. I was a white woman reading a white woman writing about racism. Right out of the gate, I’m thinking “Wait, is she supposed to be talking about this? Is it okay that I’m looking to her as an authority on this topic?”  DiAngelo tackles it all head on. At the start of the book, she slowly goes through the reasons why she has chosen to be a diversity advocate, and how her voice is helpful in […]

A really good premise ruined by casual racism and poor characterization

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

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The Scholomance is not your typical school. And not just because it’s a school for magic. No, this school is not your average school because it will straight up try to kill you. Students have to stay alert constantly and travel in packs everywhere lest one of the evil creatures, or malefecaria, who live in the school try to kill them. Galadriel, or El, is a student at the Scholomance determined to survive all the way through graduation and do so on her own terms. […]

The Book For The Moment

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather C. McGhee

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It was wild reading this book and following the climate catastrophe unfold in Texas. It’s almost like it was published for this exact moment. While it’s understandable that Texas wouldn’t be accustomed to a snowfall and deep freeze, it’s not understandable, at least in the abstract, that its power grid wouldn’t be able to accommodate. But I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Conservative Texas politicians immediately went on the offensive. Former Governor and energy secretary Rick Perry said the state would freeze before it […]

About Those Kids

The Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin

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When writing about James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates said that Baldwin had the ability to talk through you. What I took that to mean is that Baldwin’s words were such a focused fury, combining intellect and rhetoric that it connected with the reader in a deeper way than most. I felt that somewhat in The Fire Next Time, but I especially feel it in this one, which is almost more personal. Baldwin doesn’t let his foot off the gas for this book-length essay. Drawing on American history, […]

Sure: we’ll say they’re ‘kids’ books….

a kids book about Disabilities by Kristine Napper

a kids book about Body Image by Rebecca Alexander

a kids book about Anxiety by Ross Szabo

a kids book about Racism by Jelani Memory

a kids book about Depression by Kileah McIlvain

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Hey all! I know it’s been a while –> Covid is a beast, and Long Covid its just as beastly older sibling.  But! I am determined to actually write some reviews this year, so here we go. Short Review: These books are amazing, and if you ever see a sale on them (which is how I wound up with these), grab as many of them as you can.  Love, your friendly neighborhood former reading/kindergarten teacher. Now, actual thoughts and paragraphs: I don’t know what other […]

Bondage

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander

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I feel like I’m the last person in my circle to have not read Michelle Alexander’s landmark work The New Jim Crow. It’s one of those books I’d always meant to get to but never had the chance. I borrowed it from someone in my family over a year ago and since I’m going to see them this weekend, I figured there’s no better excuse than that to finally read it. I’ve heard a lot of arguments adjacent to it in favor of ending the drug war […]



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