Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


A surprisingly educational celebrity autobiography

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

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In this very engaging autobiography, Trevor Noah opens up about growing up in South Africa, born from a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father at a time when this was literally a crime punishable with several years in prison. The Apartheid regime ended while Noah was still young, but his childhood was still deeply affected by the fact that he was a mixed race child in a society where the races were not supposed to mix at all, to the point where his […]

Yes, this memoir is as good as everyone says.

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If you like audiobooks at all, I would suggest doing this by audio. I know I enjoyed it a lot more than I would have reading in another format because Trevor Noah narrates it himself, and his voices for everyone are very charming. There’s also something very satisfying about hearing someone tell stories about their life in their own voice. This book is made up of a series of interconnected stories about his youth in South Africa, from when he was “born a crime,” with […]

A Personal View into Life under and after Apartheid

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In an effort to try to get into Audio books, I crowd sourced the FB group for recommendations, and this had a large number of glowing recommendations.  I quite liked it, and it helped that I had a three hour drive to complete when I started the book.  I still struggle a bit with focusing on audiobooks when not in a car so I may have missed a few minor details but overall, I really enjoyed this book. I remember vaguely learning about South Africa […]

Best Audiobook of the Year (Yes, it is only February, don’t care!)

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How can I have already listened to the best audiobook of the year? It’s only the beginning of February! But I have. It’s that good. Go listen. I didn’t even know much about Mr. Noah going in besides that he hosts the Daily Show, was from South Africa, and does stand up. Doesn’t matter, he tells you all you need to know. So when I told Mr. Beth Ellen what I was listening to his response was, “he’s too young to write a memoir”. And […]

“He’s Mine, He’s Everyone’s”

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Last year there were several glowing reviews of Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime. Based on positive word of mouth I had already picked up the audio version which Noah narrates himself. I was intrigued by Noah – we’re the same age (well, I’m almost exactly a year older) but our lives couldn’t be more different, and I love a good memoir. For the many reasons life throws your way I did not manage to listen to Born a Crime in 2017. However, fast forward to […]

Laugh, Learn and Cry with Trevor Noah

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Trevor Noah’s autobiography, Born a Crime: Stories from A South African Childhood, was my first audio book. I was determined to hear his narration and found the CD version at my local library. My car still has a cd player, so Trevor kept me company during my first week commuting to a new job. All I knew of Trevor Noah was he replaced Jon Stewart, grew up in South Africa and was a comedian. I had no idea what to expect from his book to be honest. […]



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