Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Jenny S

By day (and night really), I teach writing and run a writing center at a community college in the Chicago suburbs. However, my superpowers include racking up large library fines and creating towering stacks of to-read books next to my bed.

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Jenny S's Reviews:

The Effects of Misogyny – From A(twood) to Z(umas)

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas

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So apparently real life isn’t depressing and dystopian enough, so I made June my month to read (and re-read) books that construct an all too believable future for women and their reproductive rights. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was my book club’s pick for June and though I don’t know if I would use the phrase “looking forward to it” to describe how I felt about re-reading this novel, I was definitely curious to revisit it.  I read the book about a year after it came out in the late 80’s and I remember the strong feeling of claustrophobia and […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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7/17/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:20 |

Definitely My Wheelhouse

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

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As a reader of mysteries, I’ve always been a fan of the more hardboiled variety and especially those with a strong sense of place—George Pelecanos writing about Washington D.C., Dennis Lehane writing about Boston, James Lee Burke writing about Louisiana, and most recently, Craig Johnson writing about Absaroka County (not a real county) in Wyoming.  Well, now I can add Attica Locke to this list. Her focus is East Texas and her novels are rich and complex, featuring flawed protagonists, who find themselves in tricky situations at the intersection of race, class, and power. Bluebird, Bluebird was my book club’s […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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7/4/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:18 |

We Are All Children of Blood and Bone

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

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#CBR11Bingo – And So It Begins Until that night the maji were able to survive because they used their powers to defend themselves. But eleven years ago, magic disappeared. Only the gods know why (15). This book has been on a lot of “must-read” lists and I’m a fan of writers who draw on diverse cultural traditions to develop their fantasy worlds.  One of the things that surprised and intrigued me was how even though this novel is set in a fictional country/region, the story has so many connections to our reality.  Whether it’s the slave trade in North America, […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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7/4/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:16 |

First Love with A Lot of Good Supporting Characters

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

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Last fall, I watched and enjoyed the Netflix adaptation of Jenny Han’s first book about Lara Jean, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.  A few months later when I read (but did not review) the novel the film was based on—I was pleasantly surprised.  The book was even more complex and nuanced than the movie—especially with the relationship between Lara Jean, her two sisters and her father. There is more about her Korean heritage in the book and about her father’s attempts to keep her deceased mother’s traditions alive. In P.S. I Still Love You, Jenny Han picks up […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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6/22/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:15 |

Stories with Cider that End Well

The Simplicity of Cider by Amy E. Reichert

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I’ve had Amy Reichert’s The Simplicity of Cider on my to-read shelf for a long time.  Some friends of mine and I pass around books every time we meet for dinner, and last summer my friend handed me this, saying, “It’s cute and it’s about cider.”  I took it, my sister read it on our vacation, but somehow I never got to it.  Finally, because I’m trying to (god forbid!) cull my bookshelves a bit and I wanted something light and fun, I decided to pick this up. This book is exactly what you’d expect from a writer whose earlier […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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6/4/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:14 |

Pam Houston is my Weakness

Deep Creek - Finding Hope in the High Country by Pam Houston

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About twenty-five years ago, I remember picking up a short story collection called Cowboys are my Weakness and falling in love with Pam Houston’s writing.  Though the characters and contexts she wrote about were far different from the world I was navigating in the Twin Cities post-college, I still felt a strong connection to the stories and emotions they created. Flash forward several decades and I’m listening to Pam Houston read aloud the piece, “The Season of Hunkering Down” from her newest book, Deep Creek –  Finding Hope in the High Country in a hip bookstore in the Wicker Park […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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6/1/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:13 |

Power to Unruly Bodies

Hunger by Roxane Gay

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Roxane Gay’s memoir, Hunger, has been on my to-read list for some time and I thought I had some idea of what I was getting into.  However, I was not prepared for how immensely readable this book was but how gut wrenchingly brutal it was at the same time.  For those who haven’t read it (or read about it) the subtitle is “A Memoir of (My) Body” and it is the verbal equivalent of Roxane Gay stripping naked, standing in front of her readers, and telling some of her biggest secrets involving her sexuality and her sense of self.  In […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

Share the post "Power to Unruly Bodies"

5/19/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:12 |

I’m No Hero . . . I’m More of a Last Resort

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

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“But I’m no hero. I’m more of a last resort, a scorched-earth policy. I’m the person you hire when the heroes have already come home in body bags” (2). There’s nothing like the feeling when you discover the first book in a series and it hits all your readerly buttons.  I was pretty sure I was going to like Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse when I read about it—searching for women Native American authors to support (in the aftermath of the Sherman Alexie scandal.)  I actually bought a copy for my sister for our second annual Christmas Eve Jolabokaflod […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

Share the post "I’m No Hero . . . I’m More of a Last Resort"

2/9/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:11 |


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