Cannonball Read 14

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Bitter, Sweet, Love, Family

Hundred Years of Happiness by Thanhha Lai

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I had many emotions and thoughts while reading Hundred Years of Happiness. I was wondering the nationality of the family (you learn Vietnamese) as I was curious where the food came from and where the traditional represented (colors are important to cultures and I was wondering why white was not used).  Then, I would become emotional as I realized this is not really a happy story, but a bittersweet one about the love of a grandchild and grandparents. And where one grandparent, the grandmother, is […]

So Lovely

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

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The Magic Fish is an absolutely beautiful graphic novel–both the pictures and the story itself. It’s the story of a boy, Tiến, whose been keeping a secret from his friends and family. Tiến’s parents emigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam. His parents are working on improving their English, and so every night he reads fairy tales with his mother. Meanwhile, he tries to figure out how to cross the language barrier to tell his parents that he’s gay. To help his mother with her English, she […]

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

The Lover by Marguerite Duras

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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 […]

“With a return ticket, courage becomes an intellectual exercise.”

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

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From 1951-54, Graham Greene was a foreign correspondent in French Indochina.  Contrary to the belief of some, Edward Lansdale (a pioneer of American intelligence operations) was not the inspiration for the character of Pyle (the titular Quiet American). Greene instead based the character on a man named Leo Hochstetter, with whom he shared a room and traveled to Saigon from Ben Tre. Hochstetter lectured Greene on finding a “third force” in Vietnam: a democratic alternative to colonialism and communism. The Quiet American takes place in […]

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) […]

CBR12 Book Bingo – Orange

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

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The Great Alone was a book I heard so much about prior to picking it up. However, at about 50 pages in, I wondered what all the fuss was about. The slow build was a bit of a grind, but I trusted that the fabulous reviews were not wrong. Boy, am I glad I did not give up. The Great Alone quickly picked up steam, and I was entranced. When Ernt Allbright came home from the Vietnam war, he was different. With a stormy mood that flips like […]



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