Most of the YA I read tends to fall into either the dystopian future or fantasy bucket, but with all the buzz and positive reviews, I decided to give this one a shot (it also happened to be February so what better time to read this?). Then I put off reviewing it for almost two months because I wasn’t sure how to properly do justice to the novel. Many of the themes explored in this novel will feel familiar because Angie Thomas has quite a […]
Stand Up. Fight Back.
Best for: People who see what is happening in the U.S. and want some quick tips on how to fight back. In a nutshell: The subtitle says it all. Twenty lessons the guide our fight against the encroaching tyranny. Line that sticks with me: “When exactly was the ‘again’ in the president’s slogan ‘Make America great again’? Hint: It is the same ‘again’ that we find in ‘Never again.’” (p 123) Why I chose it: I was in a bookstore on Tuesday and saw this […]
Probably not THE definitive Steinem, but good nonetheless
3.5 stars Gloria Steinem is a giant in American feminism, and someone I only truly know about from secondary sources. She’s written a lot, and I had read none of it until her most recent work, My Life on the Road. Regarding her own life, it’s not comprehensive: it’s a series of vignettes from, appropriately, encounters she had while on the road. It does start with a bit of background into her fascinating childhood, which saw her family endlessly traveling from place to place, driven […]
Connecting Across Continents and Time
Best for: Anyone interested in fighting back. In a nutshell: A mixture of interviews and speech transcripts that seeks to connect struggles for freedom across the world. Line that sticks with me: “But those protest movements would not have been necessary – it would not have been necessary to create a mid-century Black freedom movement had slavery been comprehensively abolished in the nineteenth century.” Why I Chose It: I decided to kick off participation in my fifth Cannonball Read with this book because I am […]