Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About ElCicco

CBR 4
CBR 5
CBR 6
CBR 7
CBR 8
CBR 9
CBR10 participant
CBR11 participant
CBR12 participant
CBR13 participant
CBR14 Participant
CBR14 Bingo Badges
CBR15 Participant
CBR16 Participant
CBR17 Participant
CBR18 Participant
CBR18 Levels

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:

My unpopular take on a classic

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

by Leave a Comment

cbr11bingo Classic When I was about 10, I tried to read Little Women but found it so boring and such a slog that I gave up. Fast-forward several decades and I hate to say it, but I still kind of feel the same way. The “coming of age” story about the March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy has important things to say about family, poverty and faith, as well as about the way young ladies ought to behave and what they should strive for. […]

What did Marmee’s husband do during the war?

March by Geraldine Brooks

by Leave a Comment

Cbr11bingo Birthday. Geraldine Brooks was born September 14, 1955. Bingo #9 Geraldine Brooks’ 2006 novel March is a brilliant Civil War novel that imagines the lives of Marmee and Mr. March, the parents of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Brooks, a journalist by trade, has a history of writing thoroughly researched and highly imaginative fiction. I’ve read most of her novels and they have all been superb. Year of Wonders, Caleb’s Crossing and People of the Book are all fantastic. I know I read March […]

A humorous and insightful exhortation

The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell by W. Kamau Bell

by 1 Comment

Cbr11bingo Listicles (From Roxane Gay Book Recommendations) Bingo #8 The full title of this book is The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6’4”, African-American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmantic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian. And all of that detailed identity is covered in this collection of funny, provocative, thoughtful essays that are part memoir and part cultural/political commentary. I have to admit that the only thing I knew about Bell before reading these essays is that he […]

I Love This. Always.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

by 1 Comment

Cbr11bingo I love this. When the first Harry Potter book came out, I read a review of it in the New York Times and thought it sounded like a fun series for kids. After The Chamber of Secrets came out, the Quality Paperback Book Club (of which I was a card carrying member) offered a deal to get both volumes in hard cover, so I took advantage of it. Like millions of people around the world, I fell in love the the stories and their […]

Gangs of New York

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

by 1 Comment

Cbr11bingo Award Winner, bingo #7 Edith Wharton was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for literature with The Age of Innocence in 1921. I’ve decided that Edith Wharton is one of my favorite authors, right up there with Toni Morrison and Jane Austen. In past CBRs, I’ve reviewed The House of Mirth and Ethan Frome and marveled at her artistry with words and her dissection of the American class system, particularly New York society, at the turn of the 20th century. Her novels […]

Trust no one

The Ascent to Godhood by JY Yang

by Leave a Comment

Cbr11bingo Rainbow Flag, Bingo #6 From About the Author: JY Yang is the author of the Tensorate series…. A finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, they are also a lapsed journalist, a former practicing scientist, and a master of hermitry. They are a queer, non-binary, postcolonial, intersectional feminist, and have more than two dozen pieces of short fiction published. They live in Singapore and have an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia. JY Yang’s fourth novel in the […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo