Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“See her name: Lady Sorrowfree, happiness winning over bitterness, no regrets in this world.”

The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan

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In the Chinese tale of the Kitchen God, a man named Zhang, who owes his wealth and success to the efforts of his wife Guo, grows tired of her and throws her aside for another woman. When he falls on hard times and becomes destitute, fate puts him back with Guo, but his shame leads to his death. In the afterlife, he is rewarded for his remorse by being made the Kitchen God, a sort of spy, susceptible to bribery, who bestows luck upon individuals. But what about Guo? What about her hard work and suffering? Amy Tan’s The Kitchen […]

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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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4/12/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:17 |

Excellent indeed

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

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There is a Cannonballer out there, whose name I cannot remember, who is a big Barbara Pym fan. Perhaps it’s multiple Cannonballers? Not sure. Anyway, Pym’s name has come up many times over the Cannonballs, and a few weeks ago, I found Excellent Women for $2 at a bookstore’s going out of business sale. While that is sad news (especially as it’s the closest bookstore to my home), the $2 turns out to have been the best investment I’ve made in a long time. This book was an unexpected delight and might get me on board the Pym bandwagon. Excellent […]

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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3/31/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:16 |

Great premise but a bit underwhelming

Incantation by Alice Hoffman

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Incantation by Alice Hoffman is a work of historical fiction set during the Spanish Inquisition. Narrated by 16-year-old Estrella deMadrigal, this YA novel imagines how a family of good standing in small village gets swept up in the persecution of conversos, that is, Jews who had converted to Christianity but were later accused of secretly still practicing Judaism. Estrella will discover secrets about her family and have her eyes opened to the true nature of her neighbors and her best friend. The novel opens with a book burning on the plaza of the small village known as Encaliflora. Estrella can […]

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 "Great premise but a bit underwhelming"

3/27/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:15 |

Imperfect love and ruthless writing

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

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This is a story about a mother who loves her daughter. Imperfectly. Because we all love imperfectly. Unintentionally, I have read two novels in a row that have to do with imperfect mothering told from the perspectives of women who have been imperfectly parented and who in turn recognize their own shortcomings. In The Language of Flowers the narrator was quite young, an orphan, and dealing in real time with the daily ramifications of imperfect parenting. In My Name is Lucy Barton, the narrator is older, reflecting on her past and trying to make sense of it. This novel is about […]

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 "Imperfect love and ruthless writing"

3/22/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:14 |

No bed of roses

The Language of Flowers: A Novel by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

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I downloaded this novel last summer because the main character is a product of the foster care system in the US and I thought it would have some interesting things to say about that system and the difficulties it presents to children in it. In some ways the novel does do that, but mainly it is a reflection on parenthood and flawed parenting. How do you become a good adult/parent if you haven’t had one? The story is told from the point of view of Victoria Jones, an 18-year-old who has just aged out of the foster system and is […]

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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3/19/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:13 |

Now Hear This

The Poet X: A Novel by Elizabeth Acevedo

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The Poet X is a novel written in verse and the recipient of many prestigious awards including the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. In this impressive debut work, Elizabeth Acevedo demonstrates with passion and heart both the power and the vital necessity of being heard, especially when you are a young woman of color. And conversely, the novel shows the terrible destructive power of being silenced, ignored and relegated to an object, a mere physical body subject to the rules and punishments of others.  The Poet X is Xiomara Batista, the first generation daughter of immigrant parents from […]

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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3/11/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:12 |

When White Allies are Enemies

Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson

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Full title: Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, in a Two-Story House, North. Showing That Slavery’s Shadow Falls Even There Edited by Henry Louse Gates, Jr. with an Afterword by Barbara A. White In the early 1980s, the eminent scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., established that the 1859 novel entitled “Our Nig” was in fact written by an African American woman named Harriet E. Wilson. Previously, it had been assumed that the story was written by a white woman but after poring over historical documents and putting the pieces together, Gates found evidence that Harriet […]

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 "When White Allies are Enemies"

3/5/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:11 |

“Rumors are born with legs that can run a mile in less than a minute. Rumors eat up dreams without condiments. Rumors do not have expiration dates. Rumors can be deadly. Rumors can get you killed.”

Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D Jackson

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Jeez. And I thought Sadie was a dark and bleak YA offering. In Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson, dark and bleak would look pretty good. This book is tough to get through. But not because of the writing, which was beautiful at times. Its tough because its is painfully realistic, and real life doesn’t always have a happy ending. After a summer away visiting her grandparents, Claudia comes back to school, excited to see her best (and really, only) friend, Monday. But Monday doesn’t show up. Claudia’s parents and teachers tell her not to worry, they’re sure Monday will […]

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 "“Rumors are born with legs that can run a mile in less than a minute. Rumors eat up dreams without condiments. Rumors do not have expiration dates. Rumors can be deadly. Rumors can get you killed.”"

3/4/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:12 |


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