Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

January 2024 Leftovers

The Battle of Hastings: The Fall of the Anglo-Saxons and the Rise of the Normans by Jim Bradbury

Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block

Charlesgate Confidential by Scott von Doviak

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell

The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

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A lot of folks said this month was slow but I thought it flew by… The Battle of Hastings: The Fall of the Anglo-Saxons and the Rise of the Normans *** Bit too stuffy and academic but gave me a great outline as to the importance of the Battle and its outcomes. Time to Murder and Create **** This is the second time I’ve come out of a Matthew Scudder re-read with a better impression than the first time I read it. How it bodes for the […]

Fools and Mortals

Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell

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Bernard Cornwell is the sort of author (like Crichton long ago) responsible for my flirtation with both writing and archaeology as a profession. He does an excellent job of weaving in historical goodies and details of the time, making quite a bit of the work educational in that excellent way where you don’t realize you’re learning anything until someone brings up Elizabethan persuivants and you’re like, “ah ha, the dudes prosecuting catholics who threatened to rip tongues out like they’re shopping dinner spots.” Our main […]

There are better things to rebel against, Nate

Rebel by Bernard Cornwell

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Pressed upon me by a colleague, it took me a few weeks to really get into Rebel in which we meet young Nathaniel Starbuck, a Bostonite who’s fled to the South to escape the wrath of his abolitionist preacher father who is most upset that Nate has stolen a bunch of money for and then been abandoned by a floozy. Narrowly avoiding being tarred by an angry Southern mob thanks to a timely rescue by his friend’s father and wealthy landowner Washington Falcouner, Nate finds […]

Sharpe I can make you a captain, but I cannot keep you a captain.

Sharpe's Eagle by Bernard Cornwell

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So if you’ve read any of the Aubrey/Maturin books like Master and Commander or The Far Side of the World or any of the Temeraire dragon books, you kind of have this one down already. Richard Sharpe is a lieutenant in the British infantry in 1809 fighting against the French army in Spain. He’s on a mission to become a captain and to capture a French eagle, a ceremonial figure head that leads the French army into battle. The quest for these two goals, a more fully realized […]

The King Arthur Legend Grounded in Historical Reality

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Bingo Square: Throwback Thursday I originally read this novel, and the rest of the trilogy it belongs to, over a decade ago when I was in Iraq.  It was a gift from the same friend that turned to me onto A Game of Thrones, and I had fond memories of this take on the Arthurian legend that mostly attempts to be grounded in reality. As a historical fiction nerd, I can definitely see why this approach appealed to me, especially since it leaned heavily on […]

Fatigue is setting in…

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Really a 2.5 but rounded up to a 3, The Burning Land is the fifth book in Cornwell’s Saxon Chronicles and, in my case at least if not in Uhtred’s, fatigue is starting to set in. Uhtred and Alfred are now knocking on a bit for medieval standards (even if Uhtred is still younger than me) with Alfred experiencing increasingly ill health and therefore eager for Uhtred to give his oath to his son and heir, Edward. Contrary as ever, Uhtred refuses and, following the […]



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