Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Important reminder that refugees don’t WANT to leave their homes

The Saffron Kitchen: A Novel by Yasmin Crowther

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I found this on summer vacation at an independent bookstore at Rehoboth Beach (Browseabout Books). It was a staff pick, and as I had had luck with previous staff picks from this store (Mudbound), I invested in this novel. And I am not disappointed. Published in 2006, The Saffron Kitchen is a beautiful, heartbreaking, entirely realistic story about Iran and England, mothers and daughters, the desire to be free and the pull of home and the past. Yasmin Crowther, the daughter of an English father and Iranian mother, writes what she knows and takes the reader on a journey from […]

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10/7/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:54 |

Shining Light on Colonialism

Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Petina Gappah

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Dr. David Livingstone died in May of 1873 in a village called Chitambo (in present day Zambia), located in central Africa. His African attendants buried his heart there, embalmed his body, and then transported it along with his papers over 1500 miles to Zanzibar so that they could be returned to England. The journey took 200+ days and two of the men on the trip Susi and Chuma gave a short account of it, mentioning illness and deaths within the travel party and other dangers along the way. In Out of Darkness, Shining Light, Petina Gappah imagines this journey through […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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10/2/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:53 |

Debut novel worth noting (Cannonball and Bingo Blackout)

Oksana, Behave! by Maria Kuznetsova

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Cbr11bingo Reader’s Choice, substituting for Two heads are better than one Bingo Blackout/Cannonball! I picked this one up for the cover, but I bought it because it is related to the interests of my youth — Slavic studies and history. Maria Kuznetsova’s debut novel manages to be both funny and serious as she describes the life of Oksana Ivanovna Konnikova from her childhood, when the family moved from Kiev to Florida, until her adulthood. Oksana has to deal with loss, uprootedness, unrequited loves, and disappointing career options as she strives to find love and success as a writer. Oksana serves […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/21/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:52 |

“Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future.”

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

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Cbr11bingo Banned Book, bingo #10 & 11 A frequently challenged classic according to ALA Slaughterhouse-Five propelled Kurt Vonnegut to fame when it was published in 1969. It has been banned in a number of school districts over the decades for language, sex and religious references. Slaughterhouse-Five is  Vonnegut’s attempt to write about his experience as a POW in Dresden during WWII, where he witnessed the firebombing that destroyed the city and caused the deaths of 135,000 people. Slaughterhouse-Five is an anti-war classic that shows through its daring narrative structure the inevitable, endless repetitiveness of history. Slaughterhouse-Five is the story of […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/19/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:51 |

My unpopular take on a classic

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

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cbr11bingo Classic When I was about 10, I tried to read Little Women but found it so boring and such a slog that I gave up. Fast-forward several decades and I hate to say it, but I still kind of feel the same way. The “coming of age” story about the March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy has important things to say about family, poverty and faith, as well as about the way young ladies ought to behave and what they should strive for. It was a hit from the moment it was published and has remained so ever […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/16/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:50 |

What did Marmee’s husband do during the war?

March by Geraldine Brooks

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Cbr11bingo Birthday. Geraldine Brooks was born September 14, 1955. Bingo #9 Geraldine Brooks’ 2006 novel March is a brilliant Civil War novel that imagines the lives of Marmee and Mr. March, the parents of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Brooks, a journalist by trade, has a history of writing thoroughly researched and highly imaginative fiction. I’ve read most of her novels and they have all been superb. Year of Wonders, Caleb’s Crossing and People of the Book are all fantastic. I know I read March not too long after it came out, but I honestly couldn’t remember much about it […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

  • March by Geraldine Brooks

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/12/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:49 |

A humorous and insightful exhortation

The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell by W. Kamau Bell

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Cbr11bingo Listicles (From Roxane Gay Book Recommendations) Bingo #8 The full title of this book is The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6’4”, African-American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmantic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian. And all of that detailed identity is covered in this collection of funny, provocative, thoughtful essays that are part memoir and part cultural/political commentary. I have to admit that the only thing I knew about Bell before reading these essays is that he is N.K. Jemison’s cousin. I haven’t seen his stand-up act or his TV shows (Totally […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/9/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:48 |

I Love This. Always.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

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Cbr11bingo I love this. When the first Harry Potter book came out, I read a review of it in the New York Times and thought it sounded like a fun series for kids. After The Chamber of Secrets came out, the Quality Paperback Book Club (of which I was a card carrying member) offered a deal to get both volumes in hard cover, so I took advantage of it. Like millions of people around the world, I fell in love the the stories and their characters. When The Prisoner of Azkaban was published, I went to the local Borders Books […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

Share the post "I Love This. Always."

9/6/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:47 |


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