Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Agatha Christie, in the parlor, with poison

A Mind of Her Own: The Story of Mystery Writer Agatha Christie by Robyn McGrath

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I was never a “OMG AGATHA CHRISTIE IS THE BEST!” but have appreciated what I have read. There were a few things I knew about her style, such as she was not going to be an easy read for someone used to contemporary writing and she would have references not really “okay” for today’s mindset. But what I didn’t know was how she got to be considered one of the greatest writers of mystery ever. This picture book by Robyn McGrath does a fantastic job […]

Nobody asked Cinderella if she felt lucky

The Lucky Poor by Mazie Lovie

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The Lucky Poor by Mazie Lovie was read via an online reader copy, even though it has been out since mid-March. It is an introduction to several years of the author’s life with moving a few times, living with her grandparents and finally in a house made especially for them, as we see what it really means to be part of the oxymoron term, “the lucky poor.” We watch as Lovie goes from a five-year-old kid to a young woman going off to college. We […]

Shaping the structures of the world

Mr. Pei's Perfect Shapes: The Story of Architect I. M. Pei by Julie Leung

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Mr. Pei’s Perfect Shapes: The Story of Architect I. M. Pei by Julie Leung and illustrated by Yifan Wu is a WOW! book. Not because it is the best book ever (though it is in the top 25 for 2024 so far), but because it is different from what I have been reading and it is about someone that I had never heard of before, or if I had, not someone who had “clicked” as he was not a mainstream name (such as Frank Lloyd […]

Dodger This

The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness by Andy McCullough

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The fascinating thing about this book is how I was more interested in Clayton Kershaw’s story than the man himself. I suppose both are intertwined. But I think Kershaw has a fascinating story, rising from the challenges of his youth to becoming the consensus best pitcher of his generation. The man himself? Eh. Stays private, sometimes shows a funny side, family man, Christian of the Baptist/Evangelical/non-liturgical variety. Seems like a decent guy, certainly not an intriguing one. Andy McCullough seems to know this without saying […]

“…his own losses were irreplaceable:” The Life and Times of a Private Secretary to Royalty

End of an Era: Letters and Journals of Sir Alan Lascelles 1887-1920 by Sir Alan Lascelles (Edited by Duff Hart-Davis)

King's Counsellor (Abdication and War: The Diaries of Sir Alan 'Tommy' Lascelles) by Sir Alan Lascelles (Edited by Duff Hart-Davis)

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I’m glad that I read these out of order, because going from reading the last volume, where Tommy is fully mature and in his element to the first volume, where he is a child, really drove home to me how much growing up and having the time to think and experience life can make someone less annoying and more thoughtful. I think if I’d started with the first book, it would have soured me on him because he is very of his time and class […]

Dietrich in Harlem

Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance by Reggie L. Williams

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer is widely celebrated by mainline Protestant (mostly white) Christians because he’s one of the rare public instances in which a white Christian has been on the right side of history. In standing up to the Nazis, Bonhoeffer is considered a modern day martyr. But what’s not as publicly known is that Bonhoeffer found the strength to resist the Nazis during his time in Harlem. Studying at General Theological Seminary, located in nearby Morningside Heights, Bonhoeffer worked in the famous Abyssinian Baptist Church. It […]



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