Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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“The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world’s definitions”

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

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There is no American truth teller like James Baldwin. I always come away from his writing–whether fiction or nonfiction–changed. I don’t know how he could hold so much clear-eyed rage and pain alongside so much love and dignity. He never spared anyone from the truth, even himself. His book The Fire Next Time is a short book with only two essays, but he packs so much into them. The first essay is a letter to his nephew, called “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew […]

Beautiful, Emotional, and Sadly Still Relevant

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

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This book is beautiful and sad and infuriating, especially in that it is still so relevant 50 years after it was written. It was a hard book to read at times but so well-done and worth it. I was hooked on the story of 19-year-old Tish, who is pregnant and engaged to Fonny—who is in jail awaiting trial for a violent crime he didn’t commit. As one might expect from Baldwin, there is a lot of focus on racism, sexism, and racial injustice, especially within […]

This is me writing 600 words about a book I barely remember.

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

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I watch a lot of YouTube. Like, the vast majority of everything I watch is on YouTube. Everything from podcasts and history documentaries to British panel shows like Taskmaster. The one thing I haven’t had much luck with is book chanels, though. Which isn’t to say there isn’t a ton of literary content on there – but most of what’s out there, that I’ve found, is book reviews. Which I obviously can’t say anything bad about – after all, look at what I’m doing now. But […]

This is the biography review

Gifts from Georgia's Garden: How Georgia O'Keeffe Nourished Her Art by Lisa Robinson

Jimmy’s Rhythm & Blues: The Extraordinary Life of James Baldwin by Michelle Meadows

A Grand Idea: How William J. Wilgus Create Grand Central Terminal by Megan Hoyt

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I was into biographies as a kid. Yet, I didn’t have as many selections as we have today. Mostly because only so many were made, only so many were allowed due to age limits, space and only so many my schools and libraries could afford. Yet, one thing that has stayed the same throughout the years, is we tend to have the same people. We have Amelia E. Or Helen Keller. Or Dr. M. L. King. Or the hottie of the moment (Swift, Styles). Therefore, […]

Listening, Feeling, and Acting like an superhero

I Am an Antiracist Superhero: With Activities to Help You Be One Too! by Jennifer Nicole Bacon

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Jennifer Nicole Bacon’s book, I Am an Antiracist Superhero: With Activities to Help You Be One Too! is exactly what you expect of a modern day, antiracist picture book. It is a bit dated as it talks about the protests surrounding George Floyd, but the rest is anytime information. The information included is less about being racist or antiracist, but how you can be a good person or a superhero.  It is about speaking up when you see someone is being picked on or something […]

The Price of the Ticket

The Price of the Ticket by James Baldwin

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

No Name in the Street by James Baldwin

The Devil Finds Work by James Baldwin

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The Price of the Ticket This is a big collection of James Baldwin essays and nonfiction from about 40 years or of writing. I tend to be a bigger fan of James Baldwin’s nonfiction more than his fiction in part because I think the poetry of his brain and language elevates his nonfiction in such a big way. In his fiction, it still works, but it’s less powerful for me. Some of the not previously printed highlights include “A Talk With Teachers”  – In this […]



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