Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I see poisoners—so calculating, so cold-blooded—as most like the villains of our horror stories.” (CBR11 Bingo)

The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum

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I don’t know what it says about me that I quite enjoy medical history and historic New York, but I do know that it says that The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York is right up my alley. It also wins the prize for longest title of the books I’ve read this year. Blum’s book tracks the time when a pair of forensic scientists, Charles Norris and Alexander Getler began the chemical detective work that forensic science […]

…using our legs to proceed across the landscape.

A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson

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CBR11 BINGO: Travel (BINGO! Pajiba square to Science square) This is one of those books that I heard about forever ago and passed by constantly on bookshelves. Novels with nature as a character are kind of my thing but non-fiction generally is not. Once again, Cannonball Read BINGO has pushed me to read something I most likely would have never gotten around to. (I’m just 3 squares from a black out, people. THREE and I will see it to fruition!) A quick Google search of “best travel books” landed […]

Old Letters

Letters to Phil: Memories of a New York Boyhood 1848 - 1856 by Gene Shermerhorn

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In trying to find some primary source material on the 19th century history of New York, I stumbled upon Letters to Phil: Memories of a New York Boyhood 1848 – 1856. It was right in the time period I needed, so I took a shot on the old edition. Published in 1982, it’s a slim book, and not much more than the sum of it’s parts on the surface. A New York native named Gene Shermerhorn wrote a series of letters to his nephew, who was […]

“The witch owes nothing. That is what makes her dangerous. And that is what makes her divine.”

Waking the Witch by Pam Grossman

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(This is another one of those quote heavy reviews, but :shrug:) So, I can’t be the only one who’s hearing a lot of talk about witches lately, right?  Podcasts?(including the author of this book’s own) Friends dabbling in crystals? Little sister shoving the Co-Star app at you and asking what time you were born??  I feel like witches are in the zeitgeist right now, one way or another, and as any The Craft-Matilda-Practical Magic loving 90’s teenage girl can tell you, not even for the first […]

A little bit romance, history, and ghost story

Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

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I have a friend who is an Outlander fanatic.  She re-reads the series every couple of years and the book associated with the tv series season before it is aired.  For the past couple of years at Christmas, I have given her Outlander calendars and one year an Outlander cook book (which she used and it has good recipes!).  Last year I wanted to introduce her to a new author.  My favorite local independent bookstore gave me a couple of recommendations but I settled on […]

An Academic Look at a Fun Subject – Latinx Rock

Rock the Nation: Latin/o Identities and the Latin Rock Diaspora by Roberto Avant-Mier

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If there’s anything good to be said about the Trump era, I think it’s that we’re all forced to figure out who we are. It’s not necessarily that we HAVE to take the President’s lead and become galvanized on all issues or against one another, but we do have to look at our identities, and what we’ll tolerate in our culture, and what we won’t. Personally, all of the negativity towards Latinx people has led me to embrace the Mexican-American and Basque portions of my […]



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