trauma – Page 4 – Cannonball Read 17

a mermaid’s tail made of donkey skin (a dual cbr13bingo and #cannonbookclub adventure!)

Deerskin by Robin McKinley

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

September 9, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

well, not exactly. What we have here are two retellings of classic fairy tales: Charles Perrault’s deeply upsetting Donkeyskin (recently reviewed by our very own BlackRaven) and Hans Christian Andersen’s also unsettling The Little Mermaid. Both of these entries are picks for our upcoming #cannonbookclub event- and I’ll be discussing Deerskin further during our Zoom- but in the meantime, let these two help you choose your pick(s)! Also- both of these tales of girls on the cusp of womanhood have been reclaimed and retold by women. […]

Knowing the score

The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, And Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.

May 19, 2021 by Claire Badger Leave a Comment

This book took a long time to get through. I think I started reading it in January, maybe earlier. It was worth the journey. Dr. Van Der Kolk proposes that many of our issues, both individually and as a society, stem from certain types of trauma. He explores the development and creation of the PTSD diagnosis after Vietnam, and how being a part of the creation of the diagnosis led him to see how many other issues his patients had stemmed from other types of […]

“Everything that happened next was only possible because my mother was absent. It wasn’t that she left the house much, it was that a part of her had abandoned her body and now resisted coming back.”

How to Order the Universe by María José Ferrada

March 2, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

A precocious child, a beat-up Renault, traveling salesmen and the uneasy promise of ghosts populate this tiny but mighty book. M, our narrator, has struck a deal with her father. They haunt the dusty roads of Pinochet’s Chile as a sales-duo, using M’s charms to sway shop owners towards buy more nails, hammers, and other hardware than her father could sell on his own. If the person in charge focused on my pupils, instead of encountering me, he or she encountered every possible form of […]

One Woman Holds a Torch for the Three Women Who Kicked Down the Door to War

You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War by Elizabeth Becker

January 31, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

My master’s adviser at the University of Washington had rejected my thesis on the Bangladesh War of Independence after I refused to sleep with him. He said the one was not related to the other but would welcome having an affair if I changed my mind. That infuriating fact introduces us to Elizabeth Becker. Becker is no stranger to reporting; she has covered revolution, war, and genocide all over the world. She has won many prizes for her work, including (but not limited to the) […]

“On her First Holy Communion, Majella could remember sitting in the chapel for a long time, with Jesus stuck to the roof of her mouth, and her trying to peel him off with her tongue. Somehow she knew picking him off with her finger was all wrong.”

Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen

January 16, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Majella is the queen of coping; she has developed a system of avoiding eye contact, she gladly relies on years-long joke exchanges orchestrated by her customers and coworkers, and she is clear about people explaining idioms and small-town customs to her as a needed relief. She is also coping with the world around her; her uncle “died for the cause”, her IRA-adjacent father disappeared years ago, her mother is lost in a haze of whiskey, and her beloved grandmother has recently been beaten to death. […]

It Runs in the Family

Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman

Can You Feel This? by Julie Orringer

The Lion's Den by Anthony Marra

Zenith Man by Jennifer Haigh

The Weddings by Alexander Chee

January 13, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Another year, another onslaught of bits and bobs to keep me from sitting down and giving my undivided attention to a hefty book! Everything My Mother Taught Me 3/5 Dang it Alice Hoffman, misadventures at lighthouses are my catnip! Lighthouse Keeper was my dream job when I was younger- big thanks to Ahab’s Wife- it’s a lonesome and perilous career but also pretty cool! I was a huge Hoffman fan in high school, but I drifted away over the last 15 years or so. I dipped […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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