Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Loves books. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: blauracke's Quick Questions interview.)

blauracke's Reviews:

“In her they instinctively sensed an outlaw, and theirs was the task of policing nature.”

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

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Stephen Gordon’s father desperately wanted a son but what he got instead is a daughter who fences and rides like a man, and who falls in love with women. She feels isolated and apart from ‘normal’ people until she meets a young woman during World War I who finally returns her affection. Societal pressure, however, threatens to destroy her happiness. Written by an author who described herself as a ‘congenital invert’ and first published in 1928, this was banned in the UK for obscenity even […]

“It has been said that a specialist is a barbarian whose ignorance is not well-rounded.”

His Master's Voice by Stanislaw Lem

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When a neutrino beam with a possible message from an advanced civilization is discovered, scientists from many different fields try to decode the letter from the stars. Impeded by political and military interests, and limited by their own narrow-mindedness and hubris, they struggle to make sense of the transmission and to gain any useful knowledge from it. This is a deeply philosophical book, and Lem’s reasoning is absolutely sound. Since it is told from the viewpoint of one of the leading scientists, a mathematician, it […]

“I shall tell you where we are. We’re in Hell.”

From Hell by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell

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I own very few graphic novels, and this one about Jack the Ripper and his crimes I’ve had for years but never read it. Someone gave it to me, but it seemed unappealing because I’ve grown tired of the serial killer who mutilates women. I can stomach it if it is more about the discovering of the murderer’s identity than the actual deeds themselves, which this book, as I understood it, was not about. To just dive into the sick psyche of such a man, […]

It Is the Innocence Which Constitutes the Crime

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

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This book consists of two letters, one that is addressed to Baldwin’s nephew on the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and a longer one that he calls ‘A Letter from a Region in My Mind’. They concern themselves with the history and the state of race relations in the US in the 1960s, both from a very personal and a more general perspective. I put this on my TBR when I read an article in my local newspaper earlier this year, in which they […]

So Much For Romance

The Miracle at St. Bruno's (The Daughters of England Book 1) by Philippa Carr

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In 16th century England, Damask Farland falls in love with the orphan Bruno who was raised by monks and hailed as a miracle child. The historical background is mostly formed by the tumultuous reign of Henry VIII, but continues on until the coronation of Elizabeth I. The history of the time is explained in great detail, the intrigues at court, Henry’s many wives, religious conflict, etc., but while some events affect the characters, others don’t. Damask’s father, for instance, is denounced as a traitor and […]

Weep For What Is Lost Forever

The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey

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What is a triumph? As the Romans understood the word, a triumph was not just a victory, but an annihilation, and this is exactly what happened to a lot of the Classical World when Christianity took over. Statues, temples, books, religious sites, philosophy, science, everything had to be destroyed and/or desecrated in the name of the new god. Catherine Nixey tells the story of the rise of Christianity and the devastation it left in its path. I was sure that this book would make me […]



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