Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Very big thanks to andtheIToldYouSos for the heads up that this existed! Had a fun time nerding out.

The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro

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This was extremely interesting. I am not deluded enough to think that it would be interesting for everyone. If you like historical analysis of notable literary texts, this book will be your jam. Especially if you are into Shakespeare. I have decided that this combination of historical context and literary analysis is something I really like. One of my favorite books of the last several years was Jane Austen, the Secret Radical, which did something similar, except across Austen’s entire career instead of focusing on only […]

Putting Black women back into the historical narrative.

A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry & Kali Nicole Gross

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This was a really good book for what it was—a survey of Black women’s roles throughout 400 plus years of North American history—but the relatively small 219 page count just wasn’t enough space to really get into the sorts of details I really love when reading about history. I don’t think we can discount the impact of the purpose of the book, though, since its entire aim is to place Black women back into the historical record, and it very much succeeds in that goal. […]

New translation of a 2,000 plus year old classic. #CBRBingo

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I first read The Odyssey when I was a freshman in high school. I think it might actually have been the very first assigned reading that year, and I remember being excited for it, and liking the story, but having suuuuuch a hard time getting through it, because the translation I was reading was so dense. Looking back (and now having read this translation) I don’t actually think I liked it as much as I thought I did, and I have some definite opinions about […]

Why, yes, I did Double Cannonball on a large book with tiny print that’s won lots of awards, why do you ask?

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi

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This book goes wide (not deep) on a very important topic, and should be required reading for everyone. That phrase gets thrown around a lot when talking about “important books”, but I’m seriously for serious here. Kendi has written THE comprehensive book about the history of racism in America, tracing it all the way from its roots in the 16th century through modern day, and he covers it from top to bottom, hitting on every major point you can probably think of along the way. It’s […]

I wanted more from this academic book about the fluidity of male sexuality.

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I picked this up on a whim after a friend reviewed it on Goodreads, and I saw that my library actually had a copy. It was a really interesting reading experience, and overall, I thought Ward did a nice job explaining her points, but I also felt that it was a case of her having opinions (that are maybe right) but not enough evidence to back any of it up. She takes all these incidences and cultural stories and tries to work them into a […]

If you’re looking for a totally immersive reading experience, here you go, but be prepared to work for it.

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The first thing to know about S. — J.J. Abrams’ and Doug Dorst’s literary experiment slash ode to the written word — is that you get out of it what you want to get out of it. If you want to get all crazy conspiracy theory and puzzle out a bunch of mysteries, you can. If you just want to sit back and be immersed in the story, with a little brain power, you can. If you want to engage somewhere in between those two levels, […]



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