Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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The Devil’s Attempt at Playing Guardian Angel

The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne

February 16, 2026 by Jen K Leave a Comment

I picked this one up because I thought the premise of the Devil interacting with a woman and all her descendants was an interesting way to frame an intergenerational family story. While this is follows eight generations, it’s also more a story told in vignettes. It doesn’t necessarily wrap up one person’s story and then move on to the next. Instead each member of the family has a one chapter focused on them and within that chapter, the reader might get foreshadowing about another character’s […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History Tagged With: American South, Black History, generational story, magic realism, Rickey Fayne

Jen K's CBR18 Review No:14 · Genres: Fiction, History · Tags: American South, Black History, generational story, magic realism, Rickey Fayne ·
Rating:
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When generational trauma meets childhood trauma

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

April 29, 2025 by Jen K Leave a Comment

This was our March book club selection, and I really enjoyed it. I read the author’s debut novel, Black Cake, in February and I feel like she resolved all the issues I had with her writing in that novel here. If anything, I think she could have devoted a bit more time to the past but she genuinely made me care about the present day characters. Good Dirt in this case refers to clay, and a family’s historical legacy that they trace back to an […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History Tagged With: American History, Black History, Charmaine Wilkerson, family heirloom, generational story

Jen K's CBR17 Review No:51 · Genres: Fiction, History · Tags: American History, Black History, Charmaine Wilkerson, family heirloom, generational story ·
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Family legacy and family secrets

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

March 23, 2025 by Jen K Leave a Comment

I think I picked this when I first saw previews for the Hulu show but never got around to reading it (or watching the show). However, since her other book is the March selection for my book club, I thought I might as well check this out first. After Eleanor Bennett dies, her two adult children meet with her lawyer and find out that she has left them one last black cake in the freezer and a recording that they must listen to together. Benny, […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History Tagged With: Charmaine Wilkerson, family secrets, generational story, immigrant experience

Jen K's CBR17 Review No:31 · Genres: Fiction, History · Tags: Charmaine Wilkerson, family secrets, generational story, immigrant experience ·
Rating:
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Amazing Emotional Story

One Blood by Denene Millner

September 2, 2023 by LB Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Black mother, Black stories, Black women, Denene Millner, family, Fiction, generational story, intergenerational trauma, Literature, litfic, one blood

LB's CBR15 Review No:7 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Black mother, Black stories, Black women, Denene Millner, family, Fiction, generational story, intergenerational trauma, Literature, litfic, one blood ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments


Recent Comments

  • Mrs. Julien
    on They go into the woods and do what?
    I enjoyed your review and the story it linked to! Thank you!
  • Fiat.Luxury
    on a pre-Covid novella that I thought was post-Covid
    Right?!
  • G.D. Giant
    on Three extremely different books about space
    I have Atmosphere on my list, so thank you for this encouraging review. Taylor Jenkins Reid is hit-or-miss for me,...
  • G.D. Giant
    on But did they try more cowbell?
    Great review! I just finished this book and while I enjoyed it more than you did (I gave it four...
  • G.D. Giant
    on a pre-Covid novella that I thought was post-Covid
    I just finished this! And had to keep checking the publication date because I couldn't believe it was written *before*...
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