Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Another one on the meh pile

The Wicked Boy The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale

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If I’m not in a reading slump this year, I seem to be in a reviewing slump. This one hasn’t been helped by not really having much of substance to say about it almost a month after reading it, a surprise to me given how much I enjoyed what Summerscale I’d previously read (The Suspicions of Mr Whicher). The Wicked Boy takes a look at another Victorian murder case which the newspapers were fond of writing about, in which 13 year old Robert Coombes and […]

I Do Wonder if the Title Blood and Money Might Have Been More Appropriate?

Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia by Michael Vatikiotis

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  I think I have mentioned previously that as an Australian, I believe that our country should make more of an effort to reach out to and engage with our closest neighbours, rather than waiting for them to engage with us, on our terms. Part of this then is making more of an effort to pay attention to and understand the politics of the region. Now, I have to confess here, while I have made the choice to sniff out more works describing the politics […]

Winnie the Pooh was inspired by a real bear named Winnie: cbr12 bingo “The Roaring 20’s”

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick, Sophie Blackall (artist)

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Earlier in bingo, I learned that Winnie the Pooh was published in 1926 and so counted for “The Roaring 20’s”.  I went looking through my library to discover that we don’t have a copy (though we have the entire Paddington collection).  However, Grandma had sent this book to my kids! Finding Winnie opens with a mother (the author) telling her son a true story about a bear.  Winnie’s story begins in Winnipeg, Canada with a young veterinarian named Harry Colbourn.  Harry specialized in treating horses and […]

I read an entire book about Irish tweed and I think I liked it

Irish Tweed: History, Tradition, Fashion by Vawn Corrigan

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As a kid I despised history. To me, it was just which war happened what year, and which person invaded that country another year. Honestly the western focus on war and conquering is deeply problematic and ruins so many people’s interest in the past. But the past is so important – it shapes who we are today.  The best way to learn about history, I find, is through culture. Go to any exhibition on fashion through time and most of it deals with fashion as […]

Say Their Names

Six Days in Cincinnati by Dan Mendez Moore

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Cbr12bingo No money I received this graphic history as a gift recently. It’s a short book about the race riots that rocked my hometown Cincinnati in 2001 and about the systemic racism that runs throughout our country still. Writer/artist Dan Mendez Moore was a high school student in Cincinnati when police violence led to public demonstrations, riots and a curfew. This story, first published in 2012, revisits his experience of those days and provides the point of view of key community leaders who were also […]

“They began their lives in deficit. Not only were most of them born into working-class families, but they were born female. Before they had even spoken their first words they were regarded as less important than their brothers and more of a burden in the world than their wealthier female counterparts. Their worth was compromised before they had even attempted to prove it.”

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

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People have been fascinated by Jack the Ripper for over a century now, and we’ve long come to accept as fact certain things about the case – more specifically, we all think of his victim type as sex workers. Historian Hallie Rubenhold is here to change that with this incredible book that delves into the lives of Polly Walker, Annie Chapman, Lizzie Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly, letting us know who they really were while also giving us a window into what Victorian […]



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