Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Slewfoot: the devil is in the details

Slewfoot by Brom

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mood music: me and the devil – Soap&Skin I had never heard of Brom and I was unfamiliar with his work before picking up this book. I found out about this book through TikTok and was intrigued by the premise, even if it was something that was outside of my usual reading genres. Slewfoot is set in colonial New England, a few years after the Salem Witch Trials. The protagonist, Abitha, is a young woman who is a fairly recent arrival to the colonies as […]

Exploring the Newgate State Prison and Copper Mine: Connecticut’s Most Interesting Tourist Attraction

Newgate: From Copper Mine to State Prison by William G. Domonell

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CBR15Bingo: Edibles (what these poor men had to eat was truly horrific, despite the tour guide trying to tell us they ate well — the explanatory board on the grounds of the prison and this book both say the men had to eat pickled pork that the guards would throw on the ground and then the prisoners would have to boil it in the water from the forge). This is a brief volume explaining the history behind the historic Newgate Prison and Copper Mine, which […]

I know him, that can’t be

John Adams by David McCullough

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One of my first favorite books was Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. It won the Newberry Medal in 1944 and I must have read a dozen times starting in fourth or fifth grade. Since then, I have loved revolutionary America. Naturally then, I’ve wanted to read this book for quite some time. I read 1776, also by David McCullough, while in college and found myself interested in this book.  As a history major, I didn’t specialize in any specific era but colonial America would have […]

It was fine!

You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe

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The title is fun! The cover is cheeky! The opening quote from Brad Neely’s beloved “Washington” video was greatly appreciated! It seemed like we were off to the races, but then… … … it got awkward. I listened to this as an audio book. The performance was fine, but the layout of the opening was just a mess. It probably worked better on paper, but the book started with ten minutes of list-reading. Then a prologue. Then an introduction. Then more list reading. I found […]

In which I am moderately cross

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All right. Five books into the Outlander series, I know what to expect. Jamie and Claire. Roger and Bree. Lots of ludicrousness, lots of rudimentary surgeries, and lots of “Wait, is anything actually happening? IS THIS ABOUT ANYTHING?” In The Fiery Cross, in particular, you get a wedding day that is, I don’t know, 300 pages? Overall, I found this book to be more trying than its predecessors, but the charm and charisma of the lead characters — Jamie and Claire, I mean, since I […]

A self-indulgent mid-series book that is about 1000 pages too long.

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I DID IT. I FINISHED THIS HULKING BEAST OF A BOOK. The Fiery Cross is the fifth book in Arizona (woot) author Diana Gabaldon’s time-traveling historical fiction saga. I have enjoyed all the books up until this one, some with reservations, but still enjoyed. They all felt like they had strong backbones, and even though they were long, most of the stuff stuffed up in there had a point. Not so with this fucker. Since the book is soooooo looooooong, I’m going to respond by […]



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