Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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When History Repeats itself

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

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#crb11bingo #TrueStory I am going to write WOW 200 times and OMG for the other 50 words. I am also going to say this the second draft of my review. I found myself just going on about all the little, amazing details to the story. I was near 500 words and could have written another 500. They Called Us Enemy is George Takei’s story in a graphic novel format. Along with Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott and Harmony Becker the reader sees the years from early/mid-1940s to today. Takei was a child in the Japanese-American internment camps, or as he calls […]

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7/24/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:283 |

Very skeptical going in to this, but I quite enjoyed myself. Thanks, Read Harder!

Orange: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1 by Ichigo Takano

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This wasn’t my first manga, but it was the first I enjoyed. I tried Sailor Moon years ago, and was super not into it. In hindsight, I may have been unfair to it, and being unfamiliar with the conventions of manga and anime probably contributed, but still. Not a fan. But I was into this right away! I probably wouldn’t have ever picked it up, despite several friends having read and enjoyed it, except for the Read Harder Challenge this year (thanks Read Harder, doing your job!) requiring a book of manga. It was between this one and Fruits Basket, […]

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 "Very skeptical going in to this, but I quite enjoyed myself. Thanks, Read Harder!"

6/24/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:61 |

The Convenience of Individuality

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

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This is one of those strange little books that I found reaffirmed my belief in the idea of being true to yourself. There are a lot of platitudes about that concept, mostly Disney-fied or Rom-Comish in execution, and those platitudes always ring hollow to me. They seem sacharine, or manipulative, or frustratingly narrow in execution. What Sayaka Murata offers in Convenience Store Woman is a character so out of synch with the rest of her society, but so in synch with the world of her store, that you can’t help but appreciate and marvel at it. Keiko Fukuwara is different. […]

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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5/26/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:10 |

Historical Fluffiness from the Forties

China Dolls by Lisa See

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Lisa See, the author of [i]Snow Flower and the Secret Fan[/i], which was a really good book, has delivered a less interesting and slightly faded remix of the same themes Snow Flower had – namely, friendship and Chinese culture. The characters are wooden: good-girl Grace, scandalous Ruby, cantankerous Helen. The story limps along like a wounded homing pigeon, following the “glamour” of the Forties while skipping any of the realities of the second World War. (It does make an appearance, as do the Japanese internment camps, but it doesn’t overshadow the character’s lives in a believable fashion.  Ruby is unchanged […]

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2/16/2017 's CBR9 Review No:1 |

Land of the Free, Some Restrictions Apply

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

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I could have easily read this book from cover to cover in a day if I’d had the time. Not only is only a short 149 pages but the writing flows so beautifully that I hated having to put it down and deal with my real life (I mean, more so than when I’m reading normally). The writing is lyrical and the scope is both intimate and simultaneously sweeping. The Buddha in the Attic would make excellent supplementary reading for a college or high school American History course. Julie Otsuka chronicles the lives of Japanese immigrants to the US in […]

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8/8/2016 's CBR8 Review No:27 |

A cavalcade of finery, from existential nihilism to haunted funeral attire.

The Stranger; The Three Body Problem; The Devotion of Suspect X; Heart Shaped Box by various

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I’ve fallen further behind in my reviews than I ever have. So, I’ve decided to do what I did for The Dresden Files: combine my reviews into one giant post. Is that cheating? I feel like that’s cheating. The longer I drag this out, though, the more I’m likely to fall behind. The Stranger, by Albert Camus (5 stars) Firstly, I read this because it’s one of the most frequently cited great novels from French literature. In my quest to read more classic novels this year, I feel that I must also read harder, less entertaining books. What better target, […]

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5/22/2016 's CBR8 Review No:41 |

A delicate and timeless novella about love, fidelity and truth.

The Hunting Gun by Yasushi Inoue

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The Hunting Gun is a quiet little story about the tangled lives of four people in Japan, presented through letters sent to the unassuming author. It’s unsentimental with how it deals with infidelity and love, and although at times a little bleak, it’s a finely crafted first novella from a future master. Originally released in 1949, it won Inoue the most prestigious literary award in Japan, the Akutagawa Prize, and this beautiful new edition from Pushkin Press is a brilliant celebration of his work. After publishing a thoughtful poem about a lonely hunter in a sporting magazine, the narrator is surprised […]

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5/12/2014 's CBR6 Review No:15 |


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