Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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US history in one family of women

The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams

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I wanted to like this novel more than I did. I had the opportunity to attend an author talk before I read this and I really appreciated getting the author’s perspective on the story she told, how she structured it and other choices that she made. So that did help me appreciate some parts but in other ways, I wonder if reading it before the event might have been better. This isn’t really the kind of novel you spoil, especially when the blurb shares small […]

The Politics of Being a Medical Examiner and Coroner

L.A. Coroner by Anne Soon Choi

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Note: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. L.A. Coroner is about as much about the politics of criminal investigation as it is a biography of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, Chief Medical Examiner in LA from 1967 to 1982. That time frame means he was the one in charge of doing the autopsies and some other forensic investigating for the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, victims of the Manson Family, Janis Joplin, and other celebrities. I have little […]

The urgent truth of our history is all around us if we choose to listen.

We’ve Got to Try by Beto O’Rourke

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When I saw the title of Beto O’Rourke’s new book, We’ve Got to Try, I thought, “yes, exactly! What are we trying?” We are trying to save democracy by rescuing voting rights from people who want to suppress it. That’s important, right? I think it’s important. I think it’s important to try and keep trying especially when success isn’t guaranteed. In We’ve Got to Try: How the Fight for Voting Rights Makes Everything Else Possible, O’Rourke is telling the stories of the people who fought […]

You’ve heard of some, but come for the ones that kicked a$$ a little more quietly

Stand Up! 10 Might Women Who Made a Change by Brittney Cooper

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Stand Up! 10 Might Women Who Made a Change is the latest book in a slightly crowded genre of women of color making their mark in American history. With that said, it is a welcomed edition as it has a few people you have probably not heard of, making it fresh in many ways. Brittney Cooper introduces us to women who have inspired them, and others in these pages. The biographical information is presented as a story, making it easy to follow along. This book […]

Caste – A book that may change how you view society

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

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There are books one reads for pleasure or diversion. There are books one will read for school or for work. Then, there are some books one reads because they are important and can provide new insights into the world. Caste falls into the latter category. I read this because a close friend asked me to do so, she was putting together a group to discuss the book and asked me to join (and I honestly felt flattered by the request, considering the intellects of the […]

Snatch, Lewks, Shade, and Werk (an no, there are no typos here)

Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life by Tom Fitzgerald, Lorenzo Marquez

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Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life covers a wide range of subjects in shallow depth. The introduction is open about this, and the authors suggest you go ask Youtube and Google about further details. On the one hand, this is a good goal, to encourage people to further explore things of interest. On the other hand, it can also be a problem such as when a queen named Michelle is important but not discussed much […]



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