Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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“A poem was pinned under Hoshiar’s picture of young Duleep: “I have been thrown into a far-flung place, had everything, all that I once cherished, my Kingdoms and my very life taken from me. I am now in a foreign place, so far from my people. So far from my homeland.”

The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge, and India's Quest for Independence by Anita Anand

October 13, 2025 by Pooja Leave a Comment

A Indian freedom fighter waited more than two decades to exact revenge for the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre which was ordered by the British Raj – but the story is more complicated and less cinematic than it has been often depicted since. At the start of this book, the author notes that as the descendent of Indians, she had to set aside her natural aversion to the British Raj and admiration for Udham Singh to tell the story in as unbiased a way as she could. […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Biography/Memoir, History Tagged With: #biography, #history, Anita Anand, audiobook, crime, India, non fiction, politics

Pooja's CBR17 Review No:62 · Genres: Audiobooks, Biography/Memoir, History · Tags: #biography, #history, Anita Anand, audiobook, crime, India, non fiction, politics ·
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“One of Harold Nicolson’s many endearing traits was to invent occasions brought about by some preposterous and improbable action on his part.”

Harold Nicolson: A Biography (Volume I: 1886-1929) by James Lees-Milne

September 17, 2025 by GentleRain Leave a Comment

One of my continued passions is Edwardian era history and as I keep reading more books about it, some people pop up over and over again until finally I either buy a biography or their letters and diaries to figure out what they were up to. Harold Nicolson is one of those people who show up in every book you will read about the 1900s through to the 1960s, as he was involved in huge amounts of historical events and had a very busy social […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Featured, History Tagged With: #biography, European history, James Lees-Milne, lgbtq history, world history, World War I

GentleRain's CBR17 Review No:29 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Featured, History · Tags: #biography, European history, James Lees-Milne, lgbtq history, world history, World War I ·
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“Off On An Interesting Adventure”

Flirting with Danger: The Mysterious Life of Marguerite Harrison, Socialite Spy by Janet Wallach

September 14, 2025 by Pooja Leave a Comment

CBR17 Bingo: Borders – Marguerite crosses the borders of many countries during her work as a journalist and spy, but also crossed the boundaries that constrained women in this era in both her work and her personal life. After being widowed young, Marguerite Harrison plunged into work as a journalist, but her charm and her adventurous spirit leads her into a more covert role as a spy. My understanding of the history of American spycraft is mostly limited to the hijinks of the OSS during […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: #biography, #history, 1930s, cbr17bingo, espionage, Janet Wallach, non fiction, travel

Pooja's CBR17 Review No:53 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: #biography, #history, 1930s, cbr17bingo, espionage, Janet Wallach, non fiction, travel ·
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hardback copy of Gwyneth on a table with an iced latte

“What must it be like to grow up that beautiful / with your hair falling into place like dominoes”

Gwyneth: The Biography (2025) by Amy Odell

September 4, 2025 by drmllz Leave a Comment

This is for bingo square ‘favourite’, partly because celebrity memoir/biography is one of my favourite genres, but also because Gwyneth Paltrow has, in one way or another, been the favourite her whole life–favoured of fate and fortune via her parents, acclaimed actress Blythe Danner and producer Bruce Paltrow, cynosure of critics, muse for Calvin Klein and Anna Wintour, tabloid and arty celebrity scene It Girl, Academy darling for her Oscar win at 26 for Shakespeare in Love (1998)—and more chillingly, for a while, as journalist […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Health, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #biography, Amy Odell, cbr17, cbr17bingo, celebrity, drmllz, Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow, movie stars

drmllz's CBR17 Review No:10 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Health, Non-Fiction · Tags: #biography, Amy Odell, cbr17, cbr17bingo, celebrity, drmllz, Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow, movie stars ·
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“She writes that she will walk across the ocean to be with her lover. He sees this, not as a declaration of love, but as a statement of a single-mindedness so total that a kind of grandeur creeps into it.”

In Pursuit of Love: A Journey in the Footsteps of Obsession by Mark Bostridge

August 31, 2025 by Pooja Leave a Comment

CBR17 Bingo: I – Re: the title. Victor Hugo was the most famous writer in the world when his daughter, Adèle, left their home in Guernsey on a years-long mad pursuit of a former lover. Centuries later, author Mark Bostridge retraces her steps and tries to understand her obsession in the prism of his own life. I have not seen acclaimed 1975 film The Story of Adele H., so this was my first real acquaintance with the strange life of Adèle Hugo, whose story was […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #biography, #history, #memoir, 19th century, ARC, cbr17bingo, Mark Bostridge, mental illness, NetGalley

Pooja's CBR17 Review No:50 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction · Tags: #biography, #history, #memoir, 19th century, ARC, cbr17bingo, Mark Bostridge, mental illness, NetGalley ·
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Lee Miller’s War

Lee Miller: A Life by Carolyn Burke

June 29, 2025 by Pooja Leave a Comment

Model, muse, photographer, war correspondent – Lee Miller wore many hats and lived many lives, and along the way intersected with major figures in the Surrealist movement. Lee Miller had the tumultuous sort of life that makes for fascinating reading, and considering I knew very little about her past the famous picture of her bathing in Hitler’s bathtub, everything I read was a revelation. She worked so closely with more prominent artists of the Surrealist movement as both model and collaborator that it astounds me […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #biography, 20th Century, art, Carolyn Burke, europe, non fiction, photography, war

Pooja's CBR17 Review No:36 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, History, Non-Fiction · Tags: #biography, 20th Century, art, Carolyn Burke, europe, non fiction, photography, war ·
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