Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A complex story about race, class, family and history

The Wedding: A Novel by Dorothy West

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Cbr15bingo politics, racial politics in particular On a summer day on Martha’s Vineyard some time in 1950s America, beautiful Shelby Cole is getting ready to marry the man she loves, and in the 24 hours leading up to the wedding, the reader of Dorothy West’s 1995 novel The Wedding becomes privy to the complicated class and racial politics that swirl around what should be a happy day. West, a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance, captures generations’ worth of “striving to succeed while black in […]

In which we see the other side of the love story

Cassiel's Servant by Jacqueline Carey

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CBR15 Bingo: Relation ‘ship’ – Cassiel’s Servant tells Joscelin’s side of the relationship between him and Phedre as originally depicted in Kushiel’s Dart.  Additionally there are some pivotal moments that happen on a ship. Firstly, I unequivocally love Kushiel’s Dart.  My oldest daughter was named after a character (Ysandre de la Courcel).  I recommend it to people (that I think can handle the bdsm elements) all the time.  There is intrigue, adventure, romance, Gods acting through their mortal chosen, and gorgeous writing.  It’s a book that […]

No one’s watching to see if I stay afloat.

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn

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CBR15 BINGO (Asia and Oceana square: Hawaiian author, takes place in Hawaii, about a Hawaiian family, culture) BINGO! \ South America to Europe I was surprised to find that I was the first to review this book for CBR. Remedy this immediately, everyone! It’s a really, really great book. The story, put simply, is about family. In this case, a family in Hawai’i struggling to make ends meet. In search of more job opportunities, they are about to move to a different island. As a last hurrah, the […]

Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.

The Alchemist by Paul Coehlho

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CBR15 BINGO (On The Road square: Road trip of self-discovery from Spain to Egypt.) BINGO! | Politics to Bodies, Bodies Bodies This was a book we had around the house because my son read it in high school. I think maybe it was a summer reading assignment. He recommended that I read it and it fit the bill for the square, so here we go. A young shepherd in Spain sells his sheep and travels across land and sea in search of a treasure he has only seen in […]

Amazing Emotional Story

One Blood by Denene Millner

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Oof, this is a seriously intense and emotional story, but so compellingly told. Told through the experiences of three women – Grace, LoLo, and Rae – it chronicles the ties of family and motherhood as Black women and the ways intergenerational trauma ripples and impacts people moving forward. Grace is a teen when her mother is murdered by her boyfriend and her grandmother is taken away for claiming a white woman’s baby was white and not a product of an affair with a Black man […]

A multi-generational exploration of Black experience from the early days of the slave trade through modern day.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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CBR 15 Bingo: Africa – The book begins, ends, and half of it takes place in Africa. Yaa Gyasi begins Homegoing with a pair of sisters (Effia Otcher and Esi Asare) separated at birth at the height of the African slave trade.  One sister, Effia, is raised and married off to a white Englishman on the Gold Coast.  The other sister, Esi, stays in a tribal African village.  The story covers seven generations. Each chapter is a new person advancing down the timeline and alternates between […]



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