Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Warfare of soccer at Bull Run Regional Park (and other stuff)

Team Photograph by Lauren Haldeman

by 2 Comments

What the flaming monkey toots did I just read? Or more accurately, took me a few days to read. Team Photograph is an artist’s interpretation of Lauren Haldeman’s experiences and feelings. When I first finished the online (though currently available) reader copy, I was thinking, “Is Team Photograph a memoir? An attempt at purging the feelings she has about death? Is it a commentary on war and the resulting death that will haunt people if they are aware of it? Or is it just a […]

“Honor without intelligence is a disaster. Honor could lose the war.”

The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War by Michael Shaara

by Leave a Comment

Cbr13bingo violence I read The Killer Angels about 20 years ago, and my lasting recollection was that I was surprised at how it drew me in and how much I liked it. Surprised because this novel, a work of historical fiction, is focused on the most momentous battle of the Civil War – Gettysburg. As much as I enjoy history and historical fiction, military history has never been terribly interesting to me. Michael Shaara accomplished something amazing with this novel: he made me interested in […]

War Inflicts Invisible Wounds Too

Hospital Sketches from the Civil War by Louisa May Alcott

by Leave a Comment

Hospital Sketches from the Civil War by Louisa May Alcott My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve always enjoyed Alcott’s writing, but somehow had never heard of this book until my wife came across it at a bookstore. This book is autobiographical although Alcott doesn’t reveal the name of the hospital or the actual names of her patients. The tone starts out in a very dramatic and somewhat humorous fashion. In some ways it feels like Alcott is satirizing the fact that all women could […]

Rated PG-16 and odd

Artichoke Tales by Megan Kelso

by Leave a Comment

Artichoke Tales by Megan Kelso is a very odd book. At first, I was enjoying this slow-paced story that seemed to have a point. But while I was busy trying to figure out who was who (as the artichoke heads and same tunic clothing made everyone look the same) I was sideswiped. There is a switch in the story and there was no warning. Are we “Then” or “Then-Then” or “Now”? Is this Ramona, Brigitte, or Dorian? (I picked those three as they are mother, daughter […]

History is Made by Persistence and Knowing the Right People

A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton & the Civil War by Stephen B. Oates

by Leave a Comment

Clara Barton is one of those historical figures that sits as a vaguely understood fact in my mind. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know about her existence, but beyond being the founder of the American Red Cross, she never bore much significance to me. But then I wrote a little article about visiting small historical sites and the “Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office” came up in my search. A cursory perusal of the website had me fascinated, and I needed to know […]

Escaping Slavery Is the Least Interesting Thing About Him

The Road to Dawn: Josiah Henson & the Story that Sparked the Civil War by Jared Brock

by Leave a Comment

My boss ordered a free desk copy of The Road to Dawn for his class, and when it didn’t arrive on time, he bought it himself. As usually happens, the desk copy ended up arriving at the same time as the Amazon book, and he gave me the free copy. It’s been sitting on my bookshelf behind my desk at work for four years and I’ve never cracked the cover. It’s not that it didn’t interest me, but more that I put it away and […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo