Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Little book, big story

The Golden Hour by Niki Smith

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Triggers with experiencing violence event are explored in The Golden Hour. This is a sweet look at the difficulties one boy faces with anxiety, depression, and his PTSD after witnessing gun violence involving a teacher at school. Through therapy, grounding techniques and new friends Manuel starts healing. I know it seems odd that it is sweet, but Niki Smith tastefully shows you the journey Manuel takes. Smith brings in elements of Manuel coming from a single parent home. They show you a bit of his […]

“I did not know that there are miles between running out of things to say, and running out of the strength to say them.”

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

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When we had out August CBR Zoom Check-in I talked about this book and praised it while warning others away. It is still my prevailing view – Somebody’s Daughter is an absolutely fantastic piece of writing where Ashley C. Ford immerses the reader in her childhood, and it is not for the faint of heart or those who may not be in the most stable mental health space. You might know Ashley C. Ford from her podcasts or writings for outlets such as BuzzFeed, The […]

a mermaid’s tail made of donkey skin (a dual cbr13bingo and #cannonbookclub adventure!)

Deerskin by Robin McKinley

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

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well, not exactly. What we have here are two retellings of classic fairy tales: Charles Perrault’s deeply upsetting Donkeyskin (recently reviewed by our very own BlackRaven) and Hans Christian Andersen’s  also unsettling The Little Mermaid. Both of these entries are picks for our upcoming #cannonbookclub event- and I’ll be discussing Deerskin further during our Zoom- but in the meantime, let these two help you choose your pick(s)! Also- both of these tales of girls on the cusp of womanhood have been reclaimed and retold by women. […]

Knowing the score

The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, And Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.

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This book took a long time to get through. I think I started reading it in January, maybe earlier. It was worth the journey. Dr. Van Der Kolk proposes that many of our issues, both individually and as a society, stem from certain types of trauma. He explores the development and creation of the PTSD diagnosis after Vietnam, and how being a part of the creation of the diagnosis led him to see how many other issues his patients had stemmed from other types of […]

“Everything that happened next was only possible because my mother was absent. It wasn’t that she left the house much, it was that a part of her had abandoned her body and now resisted coming back.”

How to Order the Universe by María José Ferrada

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A precocious child, a beat-up Renault, traveling salesmen and the uneasy promise of ghosts populate this tiny but mighty book. M, our narrator, has struck a deal with her father. They haunt the dusty roads of Pinochet’s Chile as a sales-duo, using M’s charms to sway shop owners towards buy more nails, hammers, and other hardware than her father could sell on his own. If the person in charge focused on my pupils, instead of encountering me, he or she encountered every possible form of […]

One Woman Holds a Torch for the Three Women Who Kicked Down the Door to War

You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War by Elizabeth Becker

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My master’s adviser at the University of Washington had rejected my thesis on the Bangladesh War of Independence after I refused to sleep with him. He said the one was not related to the other but would welcome having an affair if I changed my mind. That infuriating fact  introduces us to Elizabeth Becker. Becker is no stranger to reporting; she has covered revolution, war, and genocide all over the world. She has won many prizes for her work, including (but not limited to the) […]



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