Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Two very different novels from a very English author

The Tenth Man by Graham Greene

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

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Graham Greene was a prolific English writer who, in addition to writing over 25 novels, wrote movie treatments and screenplays. Probably his most famous adaptation was for the Orson Welles classic The Third Man, based on Greene’s own novella of the same name. The author conceived of The Tenth Man in the 1940s while working for MGM, but nothing happened with the draft for 40 years. When MGM sold the rights in 1983, the buyer allowed Greene to revise and publish the novel, giving us […]

Awfully * Bloody * Cute

The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABC's (the Hard Way) by Patrick McDonnell

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My sister teaches kindergarten, and for Christmas she gave me this book with a note that said, “This book has become a class favorite, and it’s a real nail biter!” I can see why! I can’t remember “reading” a children’s book as adorable and clever as this one. I put “reading” in quotes because it contains very few words. The title indicates that kitty learns his ABCs “the Hard Way,” because there are mostly pictures that go along with each letter of the alphabet; however, […]

A mixed bag, but in the end it won me over

Believe Me: a memoir of love, death, and jazz chickens by Eddie Izzard

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Another shout-out for the little free libraries of Burbank, CA! This book is a roller coaster, if your idea of a roller coaster starts out as insanely boring with bits of really interesting insight and a few chuckles along the way that leaves you with more questions than answers. I realize that is not a resounding endorsement, but I’m giving this book  3 stars because in spite of many flaws I found it rather inspiring. I’m going to be kind of hard on it though, […]

Innocence vs. experience and everything in between

Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier

Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake

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Poetry lovers, or really anyone who has taken an introduction to English literature class, will recognize the title of this Tracy Chevalier novel as a line from the William Blake poem “The Tyger”: Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? “The Tyger” is probably the most famous poem in Blake’s classic poetry collection Songs of Innocence and Experience, first printed by Blake himself in 1789. In Burning Bright, Chevalier borrows heavily from […]

Cheating shmeating! In the mid-19th century, Harvard really knew how to rock a scandal.

Blood & Ivy: The 1849 Murder That Scandalized Harvard by Paul Collins

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Ooh, I do love a good period true crime drama. From Erik Larson’s much-lauded Devil in the White City, to Kate Summerscale’s lesser-known The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, to Bruce Chadwick’s I Am Murdered (which I reviewed all the way back for CBR5),  you take a  murder that’s at least a century old, add some period costumes, a few blue collar witnesses pitted against high-brow lawyers, and a lot of research, mix well, and you have a perfect cocktail of historical entertainment. I especially enjoy reading […]

Color me surprised: Someone on the internet thinks this book is racist

The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas

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First things first: I want to give a shout out to the Little Free Libraries of the world. A few weeks ago I picked this up from one in my neighborhood and it was my first time borrowing anything from one of those tiny bibliotecas. I’d heard of this novel but might not have been prompted to borrow it if I hadn’t seen it through the friendly little window. I’m inspired to pay it forward by adding something from my “already read” stack when I […]



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