Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Spies Alive

The Torqued Man by Peter Mann

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The Torqued Man is a very difficult novel to pull off. It has to accurately replicate the atmosphere of Nazi Germany in World War II, introduce two queer heroes enmeshed with each other without the Tragic Homosexual trope, present a novel-within-the-novel that tweaks the story without it losing momentum. become a high wire spy tale in the tradition of Furst and LeCarré, and do all of this in a way that entertains while seamlessly blending multiple genres. And man oh man does Peter Mann do it. […]

Yeah It Was That Bad

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer

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I mean…what do you say? I’ve spent most of the summer reading Shirer’s legendary tome on and off. When books failed to inspire or when I had a long drive, I’d put it on audio and knock off two or three sections. It was easy because it never lost its focus despite its grotesque subject matter. Trillions of words have been written about Nazi Germany and trillions more are likely to be written. I don’t have anything unique to say there, though I learned a […]

Perfume, Chocolate, and Spies

The Scent of Secrets by Jane Thynne

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I have a dirty little secret that I suppose I’m confessing to the world: I like booksellers more than librarians. Librarians are usually concerned primarily with the administration of their office. Understandably so! I’d just as soon know what I’m looking for in a library so I don’t have to inquire for a librarian’s help. Usually, if I’m going to one, it’s because I want to get a specific something. Rarely do I browse in the library. Bookstores, as I’ve whittled down my wishlist over […]

Conspiracy of Fools

Wedding Station by David Downing

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I don’t know what to make of David Downing’s Station series. On the one hand, I frequently read historical fiction that explores the pitfalls of life in Nazi Germany. Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series is the best example but there are others in the popular “Nazi Noir” subgenere and Downing’s series is one of them. Downing gets the atmosphere of prewar Berlin down in an effective, readable way. I visited Berlin before and while it’s far removed from its Nazi past, the environment of low […]

The Book Thief – an absolutely beautiful story

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

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I am late to the party, I admit it. This book has been out for a long time, won many awards, and even been turned into a film (which I plan on watching this weekend). Yet I had not read it until very recently. That is my loss, because this novel is fabulous. Usually, one can categorize a book pretty clearly, but not in this case. Yes, Death is the narrator here and there are descriptions of souls but does that make it fantasy? Nah. […]

The bravery of teenagers puts us all to shame

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The Librarian of Auschwitz is a fictionalized account of real events that occurred in the Auschwitz-Birkenau labor camp, 1944-45. The main character Dita Adler is based on a real person named Dita Polachova Kraus who was 15 years old when she and her parents were rounded up with other Jews from Prague and sent to the Nazi camps. At Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dita worked in what was known as the “family compound” in Block 31. Prisoners here were given “special treatment”; children were allowed to survive and […]



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