Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

“We all recognize a likeness of Shakespeare the instant we see one, and yet we don’t really know what he looked like. It is like this with nearly every aspect of his life and character: He is at once the best known and least known of figures.”

Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson

by 4 Comments

There is a lot to say about Shakespeare, but there is not a lot to know. Bill Bryson, everyone’s favorite kindly uncle, lays the facts bare while gently chiding all of the (mostly bonkers) “hopeful suppositions” that have been presented as facts by well-meaning and often obsessed fans, historians, and scholars. Bryson, himself an acolyte at the altar of Shakespeare, paints a bright and brisk portrait of the man that we know to be Shakespeare. We know very few things about him; there are only […]

So 2/3rds of this person is interesting, or what even is an editor?

The Flame Throwers by Rachel Kushner

by Leave a Comment

Well, it’s 1975, and the Red Brigade has exploded in Italy. Riots in the streets, and the wealthy (especially their kids) are kidnapped with impunity. You might have heard of J. Paul Getty’s grandson. His kidnappers sent a piece of his ear to his grandfather to show they were serious. Getty famously replied, meh. At least the grandson eventually was let go, but others did not survive. Fortunately, all of Getty’s money ended up resulting in a couple of fabulous museums. So this the world […]

Women behaving badly, 19th century Norwegian realism edition

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

Hedda Gabler by Herik Ibsen

by 2 Comments

Last year I took note of the Chancellor’s review of A Doll’s House, and realized that I had never actually read the drama, in spite of my admiration for Ibsen (An Enemy of the People was a high school favorite of mine). Wanting to rectify that, and thinking it would be interesting to also revisit Hedda Gabler, I decided to read both plays back to back and see what themes they have in common. My conclusion is that a repressed woman in the 19th century […]

*bell tolls* SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

by Leave a Comment

Trust Exercise punched me in the gut, kicked me while I was down, and still I could not leave it alone.  I was once an insufferable THEEEEAAAAATER kid, and the teens on display here made my blood curdle- out of immediate and inescapable recognition. I was a pretentious brat until far too recently (still pretentious, just too old to be a brat) and roiling guilt flowed through my veins throughout the entire book. I have been working diligently on keeping my ideas off of other […]

Oh Margaret. You can do so many things, but rapping is not one of them. (CBR 11 Bingo: Remix)

Hag-Seed: William Shakespeare's The Tempest Retold by Margaret Atwood

by Leave a Comment

I love a good Shakespearean remix. I devour everything Margaret Atwood has to offer. I was delighted to come across Hag-Seed, as I am still haunted by her addition to the Canongate Myth Series (Penelopiad) 14 years after reading. Atwood sets her storm in the “summer-stock” theater world of world of far flung Canada. Our Prospero is a wrongfully toppled director of a prestigious theater; toppled by schemes, toppled by loss, and toppled by grief. His island takes the form of a prison, where he rises once […]

“Oh, every person is a book with chapters. Some are glorious and some are dark and ugly. Every person survives something.”

A Heart in a Body in the World by Caletti, Deb

by Leave a Comment

After an unnerving encounter in a local fast-food chain, Annabelle runs. She runs and decides she can’t stop anytime soon. She isn’t prepared for a cross-country run, but she can’t bear to turn back to her hometown and school where she is haunted by flashbacks of The Taker, and what he took. Her mother is appalled, with graduation coming and concern that Annabelle isn’t thinking rationally. But her little brother, her friends, and her grandfather seem to understand that running to Washington DC is something […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo