Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

> FAQ Home
> Tag: AIDS crisis

what happens to the torch-bearers, the candle holders, the vigil keepers?

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

by 2 Comments

There is so much that I want to tell you about this book, but I won’t. I took so many notes, and placed so many scraps of paper between pages, but I do not want to ruin a single realization for you. Rebecca Makkai has crafted an intricately woven tapestry that you have to witness in its full glory; I do not want to give you a magnifying glass before you have had a chance to first witness the enormity of the project. The Great Believers hits […]

Another book-club-recommended-rip-your-heart-out read

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

by Leave a Comment

Neither this book nor Rebecca Makkai was on my radar but this is the March selection of the ANUW (Association for Northwestern University Women) book club and they have never steered me wrong before. This book club is the reason I read Hillbilly Elegy, Between the World and Me, the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, and Radium Girls (and if you haven’t read these, add them all to your “to read” pile! Anyhoo, I digress. The Great Believers was another in the long line of books […]

Nothing more than a conjuror of cheap tricks

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

by Leave a Comment

How would you live your life if you knew when you were going to die? That’s the high-concept idea behind Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists, which opens in 1969 Brooklyn with the four Gold children, aged 7 to 13, visiting a fortune teller who gives each the exact date of his or her death. Three of the four are upset by their predictions, and each reacts differently in the following years.  Simon leaves home at 16 and follows his sister to San Francisco where he can […]

An intimate glimpse at the AIDS crisis

Borrowed Time by Paul Monette

by Leave a Comment

I can’t remember to whom I am indebted for picking up Paul Monette’s memoir Borrowed Time. I can’t remember if I saw it here on Cannonball Read or on Goodreads. I wish I could recall it, because then I would gladly thank that kind person. As you know, I’m far more a fiction reader than any other genre, but I have read some aces memoirs lately, and this is definitely on that list. Paul Monette is a writer in San Francisco area. He is also […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo