Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Family History and Mysteries

Tangleroot by Kalela Williams

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Gosh, where to start with this book. Tangleroot opens with Noni being forced to give an opening speech to introduce her mother, Radiance, as the new president of Stonepost college, but the speech has been edited because Radiance is pushing to have the college renamed after their ancestor, Cuffee Fortune, who built and opened the college. Noni isn’t able to finish the speech and accidentally hot mics her mom when she reiterates that she didn’t want to the speech. Radiance is a force, and she’s […]

Loosely based on the author’s life

I Run to Make My Heart Beat by Rachel Khan

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TRIGGERS (but not limited to): sexual assault, smoking, drugs, alcohol, cultural situations    When I found the online link to I Run to Make My Heart Beat by Rachel Khan and illustrated by Aude Massot I thought it was something radically different from what it was.  I assumed it was for the 10 and up crowd, or even younger. It was going to be about a girl who runs. Maybe she will have to overcome the fact she is of color, a woman, or maybe […]

Perhaps the most American of novels.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

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In 1905, Thomas Dixon’s The Clansmen: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan was published to massive sales and widespread scorn. The book was supportive of segregation, and glorified not only the Confederacy, but the Klan it was purporting to tell the story of. One year later, mobs of white Atlantans massacred African Americans following lurid and unfounded accusations made in local newspapers about the alleged rape of four white women at the hands of black men. At least 25 black people were murdered […]

Skin

Perdition U.S.A. by Gary Phillips

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I’ve written it in other reviews and I know it can come off as pandering so forgive me but one of racism’s many sins is that the Ivan Monk series isn’t more widely available. Yes it does have a certain niche following among those of us who peruse mysteries. But good God, I go to a mystery section at my local Barnes and Noble and there’s so…much…dreck (and Agatha Christie reprints which — to be clear — is not dreck but that estate really doesn’t […]

November 2023 Leftovers

Catch and Release by Lawrence Block

We Do This 'til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba

The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched an Empire by John Eisenberg

Ghosts of West Baltimore by David Simmons

Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci

Hit Me by Lawrence Block

Donnie Brasco by Joseph D. Pistone

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Happy Thanksgiving to all who observe! Catch and Release *** Been angling to read more LB lately so I figured I’d knock out this short story collection for my monthly HCC read. Sadly, the results were predictable: a repetition of serial killers, hit men and un-sexy sex. I just can’t sink my teeth into books featuring short stories and this one was no exception. I enjoyed visiting Matt and Mick at Grogan’s again and the last story was fun but beyond that? Who lotta eh and […]

Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by BROM

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Connecticut, 1666. An ancient spirit is awoken in the darkness of the wood, fed by blood and the prayers of the wild spirits name him Father and Slayer. They lure a clumsy farmer into a cave to feed him to the spirit, making young Abitha a widow. Abitha already doesn’t fit into the Puritan community with her outspoken ways and questioning of the rules. Having grown up in London, Abitha was sold by her drunken father and married off to a stranger, who thankfully turns […]



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