Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“If you can’t win the game, you have to cheat.”

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Lee, Mackenzi

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Have you read Mackenzi Lee’s The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue? If not, stop reading this review and go read that.  This is the sequel, and both books are utterly delightful and disarming. This book is the second in The Montague Siblings series (or duology? there are only two of them) and the story belongs to Felicity, the more sensible and academic of the two.  Gentleman’s Guide made it clear that Felicity has more interest in science and medicine than domesticity and society and in her […]

In which I travel to the Old Republic

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This book is another Read Harder Challenge twofer. I don’t read a lot of comics; it’s a style of book that isn’t as natural for me as it so obviously is for others. While I was reading through this year’s tasks I saw there were two that related to comics and I knew that I would have to step out of my comfort zone (which is the entire point) to get them done. But… it was much easier than anticipated. Either my tastes are broader […]

“Now we have to somehow un-fuck everybody.”

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

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Quick Review: This is a very good YA debut by Angie Thomas and it is important reading to be done in this cultural climate in the United States. Thomas clearly, and evocatively, brings the reader into the layered life of a black teen in today’s United States with its systemic racism. It reminded me of of my own history, and my lived experience, and grew it out. But it isn’t a primer in the way that Between the World and Me is, it is a […]

Run Toward Who You Want To Be

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Last month, Trevor Noah interviewed Jason Reynolds on the Daily Show and even before I had read any of his books, I became a fan.  He talked about writing, reading, and young people in a powerful way and made a strong argument for the need to write books that would have spoken to him as a young teen growing up in the inner city.  I’ve been a follower of the We Need Diverse Books organization and without mentioning the hashtag, Reynolds made their argument with […]



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