Ho Lin’s short story anthology was an interesting read. Each tale aimed to shed light on random moments from varying points of view. He pulls in the reader with unexpected juxtapositions of settings and tone. The collection exudes emotion as if the stories were collective memories meshed together. He rarely delves deep into any specific narratives. The stories bounced between Asia and American even within the same story. We meet an American ex-Pat in China, then a host of characters in San Francisco, while another […]
Book Club Discussion Post: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
We have reached the day – it’s time to discuss The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. There have been many positive, and introspective reviews of the book both since our announcement of its choice for this book club, and over the years of Cannonball Read’s existence. So, let’s dig in and talk about the why’s and how’s with this book, and some larger thematic conversations as well. Let’s start with a few ground rules: Since we’re anticipating lots of conversation, […]
My New Soapbox: What You SHOULD eat
Oh my gosh I am going to be annoying everyone about this book: apologies to everyone who knows me or meets me. This book is my new most favorite thing ever. I’m familiar with Michael Pollan by reputation more than experience as this was the first thing of his I had ever read. As one of “those people” who constantly takes pictures of food, strives for a healthy diet, and is spouting recipes to anyone who indicates vague interest, it was only a matter of […]
Does the author know how he feels about his subject matter?
(This post originally appeared on Persephone Magazine.) Though anything overly cliquish, with rules of operation and preconceived notions, makes me squirm, I realized that I had made assumptions of my own about the word “Twee,” and any movement that might be associated with it. So with mixed feelings did I pick up one mouthful of a title: Twee: The Gentle Revolution in Music, Books, Television, Fashion, and Film by Marc Spitz. Spitz begins by acknowledging that, for some, Twee is a pejorative term meant to […]