europe – Page 4 – Cannonball Read 17

Do Re Mi excited to tell you about this book

The First Notes: The Story of Do, Re, Mi by Julie Andrews

August 29, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I know one thing about music: what I like and what I don’t like. And, granted that can be eclectic (Jim Byrnes anyone? How about Queen? Elvis? Ella? Bowie? Fraggles?) But I never thought about the “how to” of it. After all, why bother? I knew I liked it, but why should I learn about Do, Re, Mi? It’s just a silly song in a fun musical movie right? Well, yes, but it’s a lot more, too. While I still do not know a lot […]

I REALLY GOT TO GO

Marcel's Masterpiece: How a Toilet Shaped the History of Art by Jeff Mack

A History of Toilet Paper (and Other Potty Tools) by Sophia Gholz

August 2, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

There once was a man who came to New York from France around 1915. He had been a painter, but decided he wanted to do something else. And at a time when people thought art could only be “pretty paintings and sculptures by hand” this man decided to turn a urinal upside down, sign it and call it dart. That man was Marcel Duchamp. And Marcel’s Masterpiece: How a Toilet Shaped the History of Art by Jeff Mack tells us that and more. My rule […]

May-July Leftovers

There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History by Rory Carroll

City of Dreams by Don Winslow

Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist by Jennifer Wright

Under Color of Law by Aaron Philip Clark

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

The Last Quarry by Max Allan Collins

Tripwire by Jack Reacher

Baby Moll by John Farris

Only the Dead Know Brooklyn by Thomas Boyle

The Laundromat: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite by Jake Bernstein

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball's Brightest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess by Evan Drellich

X by Davey Davis

Our Last Season: A Writer, A Fan, A Friendship by Harvey Araton

The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín

Hard Rain by Samantha Jayne Allen

The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham

Ex Machina Book Four by Brian K. Vaughan

Jacket Weather by Mike DeCapite

Straight Cut by Madison Smartt Bell

The Crust on Its Uppers by Derek Raymond

That Kind of Danger by Donna Masini

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

Spenser Confidential by Ace Atkins

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead

Weyward by Emilia Hart

The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon, I Mean Noel by Ellen Raskin

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

July 30, 2023 by Jake Leave a Comment

I usually do these at the end of the month but then I went through a big reading slump March-May. And then I roared back but realized I was behind. So apologies for this being so long. There Will Be Fire **** A good, readable text on a moment in history I knew little about. Even after reading Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing, I still had a lot of problem keeping track of all the socio-political dynamics so it’s good that Rory Carroll makes it accessible […]

Nanorrobots Prodigiosos?

Virus. La guerra de los mil millones de años by Juan José Gómez Cadenas; Juan Botas

July 29, 2023 by LittlePlat Leave a Comment

So for my European bingo spot, I’m going to review a science book about humanity’s tangles with viruses that eventually builds to the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Virus. La guerra de los mil millones de años‘ (‘Virus. The war of a billion years’) is a bit of a curiosity for me: this book about viruses, diseases, and pandemics, which was written with a Spanish perspective in mind, was completed during the very first few months of the pandemic. The authors state in the introduction that the writing […]

Amerigo!? Heck no!

The Letters of America Vespucci and other documents illustrative of his career by Amerigo Vespucci

July 3, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

Library Book Bingos exist for two reasons: 1. clearing my shelves of books that would have otherwise sat there and 2. challenging myself to learn new things. I don’t really like the second purpose. I prefer to read what I want to read and that is that. But this summer, all of my local libraries are doing Ocean themed bingos (boring!). One of them required a biography of a seafaring explorer. I knew little about Amerigo Vespucci, the man from which the word “America” likely […]

A journey that could not take place at the moment…

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

October 9, 2020 by crystalclear Leave a Comment

Ginny is a 17-year-old who embarks on a journey left to her by her eccentric Aunt Peg. After her death, Peg left Ginny a sent of 13 little blue envelopes and some very strange instructions. In the first is some money to get to NYC and then London and the rules: she can only bring a backpack, she is not allowed to bring any guidebooks, she cannot bring any extra money, and she is not allowed to use electronics, which includes contacting the U.S. by […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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