Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The President of the United States

Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump by Harry Hurt III

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I understand what makes Wayne Barrett the great Trump chronicler but I have tried so many times to read his book on the President and I just can’t get through the first 40 or so pages. It’s larded with facts and names but not streamlined narratively so for easy reading. In her book Hiding In Plain Sight, Sarah Kendzior mentioned that one but she also mentioned Lost Tycoon, a book on Trump I’d never heard of. I grabbed it during a borrowing spree from the library and […]

An Unexpected Reading Week

The Herd by Andrea Bartz

Cross to Bear by John Maginnis

Hiding In Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump by Sarah Kendzior

Quarry's List by Max Allan Collins

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This turned out to be an unexpected reading week for me as I knocked out four books between Monday and tonight. However, I worked a lot this week and was just too damn tired to log everything when I was finished so I’m dropping it all here. The Herd 3 stars I gave Andrea Bartz’s debut a weak 4-stars as I graded it on the new author curve. It was a fun New York tale but I feel like it could have been better. I was […]

How It Happened Here

True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump by Jeffery Toobin

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Jeffrey Toobin’s books are the perfect ones to explain legalese for the layperson. His OJ Simpson one is far and away the best out of that sordid saga. His Bill Clinton one took a clearheaded look at impeachment. I wanted to read his explanation of the 2000 election recount but I just haven’t had the heart for it. This one doesn’t disappoint either. In fact, save for the fact that it ends at the same time the coronavirus pandemic began, I would say this is […]

Hurt People Hurt People

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump

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Read as part of CBR12 Bingo: No money. This was a library book. I wasn’t gonna read Mary L. Trump’s book as I assumed it would be the kind of armchair psychoanalysis I detest and find harmful. But it was on Scribd and a short listen via audio so I “read” it and am glad I did. Mostly, I am reminded that our childhood rearing dictates so much of who we will become, for better and for worse. It really seems like Donald Trump was […]

It Happened Here

Collusion by Luke Harding

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This book came out near the end of 2017. I tried to read it then but was too nauseated by the saturation of Trump/Russia coverage so I set it aside. Last summer, I saw it in a used book store for $2 and figured “What the heck?” So I picked it up. I’m glad I did. Even though much of the information feels dated (especially considering today’s Manafort revelations on his dealings with Kilimnik), it will likely remain as one of the central works to […]

Spring Football is a Good Idea

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I saw Jeff Pearlman speak on this, his new book at a nearby Barnes and Noble. He was concerned that nobody would read it. Pearlman has written books on such exciting sports subjects as Roger Clemens, the 90s Dallas Cowboys, and the 1980s Showtime Los Angeles Lakers. And yet, it was this subject, the relatively obscure minor league USFL that excited him more than anything else he’s worked on. But he knew it would be a tough sell, which is why, despite his relative success […]



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