Marines – Cannonball Read 17

Semper Iocosus

Grit, Spit, and Never Quit by Rob Riggle

November 8, 2025 by Halbs Leave a Comment

Before reading this book, Rob Riggle was like the friend of a good friend. I enjoyed my time with him on The Daily Show, Bear Grylls, Angie Tribeca, New Girl, etc. But Riggle wasn’t my friend yet. This book, to continue the metaphor, is the first time Riggle and I have ever hung out without the mutual friend. It’s like our mutual friend had to cancel dinner plans with Riggle and me at the last minute, but we both still showed. And we found out, […]

Soldier For Fortune

Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler and the Making and Breaking of the American Empire by Jonathan M. Katz

April 26, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

An excellent read and an infuriating read. Worth all five stars. And like Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction and Ackerman’s Reign of Terror, you’re guaranteed to be peeved on every page. I knew the United States had a colonizing history dating back, well really to its foundation through the US-Mexican War of the 1840s, but more specifically from the end of the 19th century onwards. I knew that we captured many islands in the Caribbean and Pacific respectively, even if I didn’t know the hows-and-whys. Jonathan M. Katz does […]

Army Chief of Staff Reading List #2

January 5, 2018 by thewheelbarrow Leave a Comment

Matterhorn reminds me a little of The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead in I had to look up to see if the books were fiction or non-fiction. I found Marlantes’ depiction of war that believable and visceral. While not an expert in any way, I have deployed twice so I understand some of what that means. Unlike the characters from Bravo Company in this novel, I never spent time “in the bush” and if I am being completely honest, they would look down on me […]

Mary Jane-ing the Pacific Theatre, one atoll at a time

August 29, 2016 by Gord Reid Leave a Comment

There are good war novels, and there are bad war novels. And occasionally, a well-intentioned reader like myself gets saddled with an excruciating mess like Never Too Old to Cry. This is a fictionalized memoir of D. G. McWilliams, a veteran of the 1st Marine Division, which fought in the Pacific Theater of the Second World War. McWilliams’ endeavor was to try to document the war from a very intimate perspective, primarily through the eyes of a small cadre of Marine recruits. Paramount among them […]

Disposable tin soldiers

August 11, 2016 by ingres77 Leave a Comment

A child of the 80s, I grew up on a distorted view of Vietnam. Free love was a whispered aphorism that seemed almost impossible in the age of Ronald Reagan, televangelism, and HIV. Peace on earth, a barely remembered dream amidst the bluster of Cold War bravado and the cinematic blood lust of Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The 60s were dead. But in its place, like some perverse cosmic satirist with a zeitgeist-altering pen, was a hyper-visualized mirror image that exaggerated its […]

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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