Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

> FAQ Home
> Tag: Race

How many ways are there to be tacky?

The Tacky South by Katherine A. Burnett, Monica C. Miller

by Leave a Comment

Popular scholarship seems to be kind of a newer genre; by this I mean essays by trained scholars that are scaled back a bit in terms of scope and depth, and done in styles that people without academic inclinations might find readable. Often, these kinds of works also tend to be on subject of interest to the general public that have something to do with popular culture. The Tacky South is one such collection. The authors of the various essays use sometimes rather different definitions […]

“So,” she heard his voice begin. He had a quiet voice, deep. “How does it feel to be an ex-token black?”

Come a Stranger (Tillerman Cycle #5) by Cynthia Voigt

by Leave a Comment

I’m enjoying my revisit to The Tillerman Cycle books, which were a favorite when I was a youth/teen. Though categorized as children’s books, they tackle adult themes with care and nuance that gives them a timeless quality. This book is the 5th in the 7 book series. Though the series is centered on the Tillerman family with teenaged Dicey as our protagonist, in this installment we get a deep dive into the life of Dicey’s best friend, Nina. We first met Mina in “Dicey’s Song,” […]

This is my reminder to read local authors and poets

The Raven, The Bayou, and The Willow by Tamara Al-Qaisi-Coleman

by Leave a Comment

BINGO – Hot (Al-Qaisi-Coleman writes about what it’s like to be of Iraqi heritage while living in Houston, both of which are very hot locations) The Raven, The Bayou, and The Willow is a collection of poems by a local Houston poet, Tamara Al-Qaisi-Coleman. This collection speaks of Al-Qaisi-Coleman’s experience as a biracial woman in the South, of both the challenges and the triumphs of her identity. There are plenty of injustices and prejudices to point the spotlight at, and Al-Qaisi-Coleman certainly does so with […]

down to the wire (as always) – BOOK CLUB TIME!

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

by Leave a Comment

Why did I wait so long to read these two? This isn’t just a question of Book Club procrastination; this is a “what was I thinking?” moment! I had heard good things about both, I was enraged as ever when they (and others) showed up on lists of challenged and banned books, and they were both available on scribd! Also- why did I treat these books like homework? “oh man, I have to read these before I can move on to other things”- at the […]

slick with sweat, thick with hate-and I love it

The Lover by Marguerite Duras

by 2 Comments

Somehow, this incredible little novella flew completely under my radar until last year. Luckily, the folks over at Lit Hub are absolutely obsessed, and I was unable to remain in the dark for much longer. When it’s in a book I don’t think it’ll hurt any more …exist any more. One of the things writing does is wipe things out. Replace them. While not entirely an “autobiography”, Duras tells the tale of a very young girl who grew up in an unstable household in French-colonized […]

“Sylvia did reach her dream of becoming a ballerina. And it all started with one determined girl with one library book from one bookmobile.”

Ready to Fly: How Sylvia Townsend Became The Bookmobile Ballerina by Lea Lyon & A. LaFaye, Illustrations by Jessica Gibson

by Leave a Comment

We’re gonna start off today’s review by (potentially? I don’t think I’ve talked about this here before) learning a new thing about NTE: I used to be a dancer. Before my body decided that anything that required even standing was completely out of the question (so from age 3-15, basically), being a dancer was a major part of my identity. I danced five days a week – tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, & pointe. Pointe was – by far – my worst class (I had […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo