Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About ElCicco

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Married, mom of two, history PhD, feminist. I've been participating in Cannonball Read since CBR4. I love to read, and writing reviews keeps me from reading without thinking. I feel like I owe it to the authors who entertain me to savor their creations. It's like slowing down and enjoying a delicious meal instead of bolting your food. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: ElCicco's Quick Questions interview.)

ElCicco's Reviews:

We are just specks of dust in this world, glimmering for a moment in the sunlight and then disappearing into nothing. You have to learn to take your peace with that.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line: A Novel by Deepa Anappara

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Cbr12bingo Violet (this is also a debut novel if you are looking for one) Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a sort of detective novel told from the point of view of a nine year old boy who dreams of solving the mystery of the missing children from his “basti” (neighborhood, or in this case slum) in a major city in India. Author Deepa Anappara was inspired to write this story after spending time as a journalist interviewing children in the slums of Delhi […]

Time to catch up on some history I never learned

Nat Turner by Kyle Baker

The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks and Canaan White

Muhammad Ali by Sybille Titeux and Amazing Ameziane

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cbr12bingo Pandemic If you want to catch up a bit on the history you weren’t taught in school, these three graphic novels are a great way to do so. Nat Turner gives detail and perspective on the 1831 slave rebellion that was probably mentioned in a textbook but only covered in passing. The Harlem Hellfighters reveals not only the bravery and heroism of the all-Black 369th regiment fighting in WWI Europe, but also the racism and violence they faced from their fellow Americans. Muhammad Ali […]

Ghost Story

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The author’s note to National Book Award nominated YA novel Thirteen Doorways states that  “… it is … a story about girls. Girls with ambitions, brains, desires, talents, hungers. It is a story about how the world like to punish girls for their appetites, even for their love.” Inspired by the author’s mother-in-law’s real life experience in a Chicago orphanage in the 1940s, Thirteen Doorways is the story of Francesca (Frankie), a teen who along with her older brother and younger sister has been left […]

Legacy

Red at the Bone:A Novel by Jacqueline Woodson

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How is it that some writers, in under 200 pages, can paint for the reader a vivid picture of 100 years of history, of family dynamics, love, pain, frustration, success, and loss, while others in nearly 800 pages can only manage to cover a fraction of the time and far less of the depth of feeling of their characters (looking at you)? Jacqueline Woodson is one of the finest writers of our time. She has won numerous awards, including for her critically acclaimed YA memoir-as-poetry […]

On the outside looking in

Almost American Girl: An Illustrated Memoir by Robin Ha

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This wonderful illustrated memoir is Robin Ha’s story of moving from Seoul, South Korea, for  the US as a teenager in 1995 and trying to make a new life here with her mother. It is a deeply moving story of a young girl, only 14, being suddenly uprooted from her friends and community, and having to learn a new language, adapt to a new family, and figure out a new culture in Alabama. Thanks to her art, Robin (formerly Chuna) finds a way to bring […]

Smash the Patriarchy

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

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The Mirror and the Light ends Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell, a commoner who rose to the heights of power serving Henry VIII only to die by the axe as a traitor. This third volume is a slog — 759 pages devoted to the last years of Cromwell’s life, from the summer 1536 to the summer of 1540. While volume two tripped along a good clip in its depiction of the fall of Anne Boleyn (always interesting to read about), this […]



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