Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

April 2023 Leftovers

Lady Boss by Jackie Collins

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Flux by Jinwoo Choo

The Cutie by Donald Westlake

The Boy with the Faster Brain by Peter Shankman

The Widening Gyre by Robert B. Parker

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Happy spring! Lady Boss** So after two books and almost 2k pages of enough internalized misogyny to make Phyllis Schlafly blush, with stories chock full of men and women who will literally hump anyone and anything, Jackie Collins suddenly decides to make Lucky purchase a movie studio…in order to get rid of casting couches and male dominance in favor of female-driven movies that are less horny. What? Whatever. I’ll still keep reading this garbage. The Hunting Party*** I was prepared to write about this being […]

Scandal

Crooked:The Roaring '20s Tale of a Corrupt Attorney General, a Crusading Senator, and the Birth of the American Political Scandal by Nathan Masters

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As always, I renew my objection that there aren’t more books about the Warren Harding administration. People write off Harding as yet another dull mediocre white guy who briefly served in office before dying. But there’s more! Harding’s time was fascinating, both during and after his death. Ludicrously corrupt politics amidst the background of the Roaring 20s? Come on, now. Anyway, I was hoping this would cover Harding more but instead, it focused on Harry Daugherty and his dirty deeds. And that’s fine. It was […]

The Long Road to Brighton

There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History by Rory Carroll

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In 1984, the IRA killed five people and came dangerously close to assassinating then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – and yet this disaster has gone mostly undiscussed in recent years. In this book, Carroll brings together the long chain of events which led up to the bombing, and unravels the complicated investigation that followed. Having been to school in both the United States and India, I like to think that I have gained a wider perspective on world history than I would have otherwise, but there […]

You Don’t Always Get What You Want

On Green Dolphin Street by Sebastian Faulks

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Alas, this was not the Green Dolphin I was looking for.  There is a jazz standard by this name that I love, and I know it was featured in a movie, based on a novel of the same name.  Well, almost the same name.  What I was looking for was Green Dolphin Street, based on an historical novel set in New Zealand.  So imagine my surprise when I pick up the book I had ordered from the library, and see the cover featuring a mid-century […]

When You End Up Skimming The Second Half of the Book … Maybe It’s Not For You

Why Marx Was Right by Terry Eagleton

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Best for: People who are already VERY familiar with Marx’s work and are looking for an outside opinion on how to defend different aspects of it. In a nutshell: Author Eagleton looks at what he believes are common arguments uses against Marxism and refutes them. Worth quoting: “Only through others can we come into our own.” Why I chose it: I thought it would be an interesting and easier to read way to learn more about Marx’s thoughts and writing. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t, at […]

Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk

Thous Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian's Guide to Engaging Politics by Eugene Cho

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Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian’s Guide to Engaging Politics by Eugene Cho My rating: 3 of 5 stars I chose this for the CBR15 Passport Challenge in the “New to You Author” category. Eugene Cho is a pastor in Seattle who became increasingly uncomfortable with the rise of Christian nationalism leading up to, and after, the 2016 election. “Thou Shalt Not be a Jerk” is his reminder to readers that if they claim to be Christians, then Jesus should be the center […]



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