Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

But his laptop!

Beautiful Things by Hunter Biden

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I was not going to read this book, but then I heard Hunter Biden on WTF being interviewed by Marc Maron and I was.. intrigued.  They talked about his book of course, but some details were unclear to me and I felt that the timeline would be better understood (by me) when read.  But what really caught my attention was Maron saying that he was concerned or worried about Hunter still.  You could just feel Maron liking, relating to, and being very worried about him.  […]

I’m starting to wonder if I have an anger problem…

Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know: The Extraordinary Exploits of the British and European Aristocracy by Karl Shaw

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Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know is a tongue in cheek tour through the terrible deeds of our so-called superiors that will still make you want to kick the door in of every last aristocrat in the land to give them a proper shoeing. Shaw takes us through some of the eccentrics, the gamblers, the rakes, the soldiers, the imbeciles and the many, many rapists and murderers that have made up our ‘betters’ – Byron, whom the title refers to, is by far and way […]

Mediocre White Men

The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren Harding in His Times by Francis Russell

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For the last few years, I’ve had a curiosity about Warren Harding. While he was an unexceptional president, he apparently lived a very…shall we say…interesting social life. He also presided over the Teapot Dome Scandal, probably the biggest political scandal until Watergate, and his death was shrouded in mystery. When I read that James Ellroy once considered writing a fictional DC quartet with this book as a guide…well I had to get my hands on it. Holy crap was this bad. It’s tough to tell […]

Somehow, both Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton

Henry Clay: America's Greatest Statesman by Harlow Giles Unger

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Were you to ask me, prior to my reading this book, who Henry Clay was, I would’ve been able to tell you that he was an important US politician in the early-19th century who unsuccessfully ran for president a few times. Which, I suppose, is more of a legacy than most people get. Born in 1777 Virginia, and launched a legal career twenty years later in Kentucky. He was such a powerful speaker, and so successful in court, that he was elected to the House […]

Sorry Pal, That’s Politics

The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright

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Why is it so hard to write decent political fiction? Can someone answer that question for me, please? There’s a glut of mystery, romance and science fiction novels. Why is it so hard to write about politics? Is it just because we often read for escapism, and politics is part of what we are trying to escape? Perhaps. But given the drama, high stakes, and many opinions contained in stories about politics, I don’t understand why it isn’t a more fertile ground for fiction. Steven […]

Urban Blues

Paper Gods by Goldie Taylor

Violent Spring by Gary Phillis

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I read two great gritty urban mystery reads this past week. Both uniquely told in their own way but both addressing the politics and social systems of Atlanta and Los Angeles respectively in a way that I found compelling… Paper God (TW and minor spoiler: Book has a trans character in which a threat of violence is implied and a tragic love story is involved. Nothing happens to them but it’s also not the most trans-positive story) I’ve read a lot about Atlanta this past […]



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