Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Featured Review Archive

These reviews, which were promoted in CBR social media, on our homepage, and in Pajiba Love, appear below by review publication date, not by date featured.

 

Queer as Folk(tales)!

Tales From Beyond the Rainbow by Pete Jordi Wood

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In pursuit of the idea that queer people have always existed (and therefore will persist), Pete Jordi Wood has put together this gorgeous collection of folk and fairy tales that earlier folklorists chose to “clean up” or dismiss. Tales From Beyond the Rainbow: Ten LGBTQ+ Fairy Tales Proudly Reclaimed is a darling little book with big important stories. While earning his folklore degree, Pete found a Danish folktale “The Dog and the Sailor” that felt undeniably queer. He self-published his translation of the tale, and […]

CBRBINGO – ADULTHOOD: “For this scribe has read a great many of these accounts and taken away another lesson: that to be a woman is to have your story misremembered.”

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

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I loved this! I’m so glad I loved it, also, because I own two copies of it and I don’t want to get rid of either one. They are PRETTY. The American cover I love so much, I want a poster-sized print of it for my wall. And my other edition has a beautiful gilded map on the endpapers with Amina and Payasam on either end, and little ships and sea beasts sprayed on the edges. I would have CRIED had I not loved this […]

Beautiful book whether you’re a baking newbie or a pro

What’s For Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People by Claire Saffitz

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Cbr15bingo Guide, Bingo BLACKOUT Last year I reviewed Claire Saffitz’s first cookbook Dessert Person, giving it two thumbs up. Her second collection, What’s For Dessert, is another great collection of recipes organized in a way that is super helpful to the baker, whether novice or pro. As I pointed out in that earlier review, I am not exactly handy in the kitchen but I do like baking. The biggest obstacle I run in to is that half of my household is gluten/casein/soy free, which can […]

As They Say, When in Rome. . . No, Wait, Actually Don’t

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

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cbr15 bingo Sex cbr15 passport Rome   You know what would have really helped me make sense of all this would have been a family tree.  This was worse than Russian novels, where everyone has at least four names and a nickname.  But these guys changed names whenever they felt like it, used a limited set to choose from (Nero?  Oh, not THAT Nero), divorced and hooked up depending on the politics of the moment, and let’s not even get into the suicides, forced and […]

So Many People Failed Her

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

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Best for: People interested in how youth stardom, misogyny, and failures of the justice system can impact someone. In a nutshell: Singer Spears shares her story, from being a teen star and one of the most famous people in the English-speaking world, through the conservatorship that kept her under lock and key for over a dozen years. Worth quoting: “I accomplished a lot during that time when I was supposedly incapable of taking care of myself.” Why I chose it: As someone who consumed a […]

Adventures in Bedtime Reading

How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

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My quest for a book that appeals to both my six year old son and me continues, with the latest attempt being the first in the How To Train Your Dragon series. You may think you know this story if you’ve seen the Dreamworks movie and sequels, but I can assure you: you don’t! The novel strikes an entirely different tone and the story told within the  differs in many respects. Yes, our narrator and central character is Hiccup, future heir to the viking clan […]



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