Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


‘I’m shadowed by doubt that I didn’t have it bad compared to others. But racial trauma is not a competitive sport.’

Minor Feelings: A Reckoning on Race and The Asian Condition by Cathy Park Hong

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This will be a tough one to review. Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings wasn’t just good – and it was unbelievably good. It was both recognizable – like a familiar friend who I just nodded along to as they spoke – and a revelation. She skillfully put into words a shade that has maybe always been super-imposed over my world view, feelings I never knew were nagging at me before. Her seven essays also covered so much ground that any review I write – and anything […]

The Subversive Power of Choosing Joy

The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan

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Courtney Milan is magic. The Duke Who Didn’t is magic. I love this book. I received an advance reader copy from the author in exchange for an honest review. I sat with The Duke Who Didn’t for almost two weeks after reading it because I had so many thoughts and feelings about it. What I’m left with is joy. This book is about joy and belonging and community, but mostly sheer joy. Before most people knew anything about this book, Courtney Milan tweeted that she was wanted to […]

“Maybe it wasn’t about the moving to new places, but about the challenge of staying put.”

The Leavers by Lisa Ko

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This felt like two separate books to me, and one of them I liked much better than the other. The two central characters in this novel are Deming Guo and his mother, Polly, who is a Chinese immigrant (undocumented) from the city of Fuzhou, now living in New York (I loved the specificity of Deming and Polly insisting they speak Fuzhounese, which is a dialect of Min Chinese; this book had great cultural and historical detail like this all throughout). The first third of the […]

Re-thinking “Asian American”.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

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I set my entire June TBR list over two months ago, including this book, but it turned out to be an eerily prescient choice. When I was reading the bits about the 1992 L.A. riots, and the parts where she directly addressed anti-back racism in America, I felt such a weird sense of momentous synchronicity. Anyway, the book. This was nearly a five star read for me, and will likely be a five star book for many. My reasons for not giving it the full […]

I’d probably read the phone book if Gene Luen Yang wrote it

Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang

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When Gene Luen Yang first started creating graphic novels, I wonder if he thought, “Someday I going to write one that has Superman fighting the Klan that is based on the 1940’s radio program.” And in 2020 out comes Superman Smashes the Klan with its connection to that past and all too relevance today. While this is not my favorite Yang graphic novel (mostly because, while I like Superman, he is not my favorite DC character and honestly have less interest in his stories), it […]

Hug me once, then hug me twice; Then hug me once again

One Hug by Katrina Moore

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I have been on a picture book binge. I need a little something to read, but not too difficult to process. Not to say picture books are simple, but I needed something that would take my mind off current events, personal issues and such. It does not take a lot of effort to read one, but you never know what gem you will be able to find. I picked up One Hug the other night. Katrina Moore’s story is a sweet, rhyming story about family […]



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