Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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A surprisingly educational celebrity autobiography

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

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In this very engaging autobiography, Trevor Noah opens up about growing up in South Africa, born from a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father at a time when this was literally a crime punishable with several years in prison. The Apartheid regime ended while Noah was still young, but his childhood was still deeply affected by the fact that he was a mixed race child in a society where the races were not supposed to mix at all, to the point where his […]

Why are we born, if not to help each other?

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Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if […]

Want to fall in love with Trevor Noah?

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I’d read good things about this book for a little while but I assumed it was just another comedian celebrity writing a book to make some money.  Since I usually spend money on those exact books, I bought this with one of my first Audible credits.  I’ve always thought that comedians who read their own books are the very best of narrators so it seemed like a safe pick.  I’d watched the Daily Show with Trevor a few times.  A little less often than I […]

It’s a thin line

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CBR10BINGO: Under Represented This past weekend, I went to a family wedding where my first cousin’s daughter was one of the brides. I have a complicated relationship with most of my family, but the one person with whom I’ve always felt closest is this cousin. I was able to go a day early and got to spend some extra time with just her and her husband. The subject of birthdays came up, with mine just a few days away, and I told her that I’ve […]

Yes, this memoir is as good as everyone says.

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If you like audiobooks at all, I would suggest doing this by audio. I know I enjoyed it a lot more than I would have reading in another format because Trevor Noah narrates it himself, and his voices for everyone are very charming. There’s also something very satisfying about hearing someone tell stories about their life in their own voice. This book is made up of a series of interconnected stories about his youth in South Africa, from when he was “born a crime,” with […]

Like a late-night Cinemax sexy thriller starring Shannon Tweed and Eric La Salle

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The only pull-quote on the front cover of this book: “Zakes Mda may have a more central place in South Africa’s literary and political spheres than any other novelist today.” — The New York Times High praise but not surprising, considering his latest novel, Little Suns, had just won the Barry Ronge Prize for Fiction and was featured in every bookstore when I visited Cape Town. A quick Google search confirmed for me that it’s as impressive as it sounds — the country’s biggest prize […]



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