Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

December 2023 Leftovers

Mandarin Plaid by SJ Rozan

Lady Killer, Volume 1 by Joëlle Jones

Zatanna: The Jewel of Gravesend by Alys Arden

Batman, Vol. 6: Graveyard Shift by Scott Snyder

The Confession by Domenic Stansberry

A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself by William Boyle

Joe Dogs: The Life and Crimes of a Mobster by Joseph Iannuzzi

Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot by Ace Atkins

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow

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Merry Christmas. We may need to dispense with the cold/snow songs. They’re about as realistic as Santa at this point. Mandarin Plaid **** SJ Rozan continues to improve with each book in this series. This one has layers and moves well to its conclusion. I’m not gonna be totally sold on a white person writing from the perspective of an AAPI one but I think Rozan does a better job with it than she did in the first one. May have to go long with […]

The House of Morgan

The House of Morgan by Ron Chernow

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I cannot explain how impossibly weird it is to mention that my interest in this book comes explicitly from Real Housewives of New York. Sonja Morgan married one of the Morgan heirs when he was already fairly old and she was still fairly young. At the beginning of the show, she’s a few years divorced, but is still the beneficiary of that connection. She’s also clearly very damaged from the divorce, or least fragile. The story more or less goes that when her husband was […]

“Immigrants–they get the job done.”

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

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I learned from watching an interview with Lin Manuel Miranda that he was inspired to create the musical Hamilton after reading Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton (2004) while on vacation. I had been sucked into all the hype surrounding the new musical and was looking into reading the book myself. Then I saw how long it was and changed my mind. However, a couple of things made me reconsider. First, the movie of the stage production of Hamilton came out on Disney+ so I was able to see it all for the […]

More like Ron Churn-ow

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I read Chernow’s biography of Hamilton last year because, well, I can’t see the musical.  Also, I majored in History as an undergrad and my favorite era is the American Revolution.   Hamilton, the biogrpaphy, was excellent.  It was the first major biography that read despite a good friend recommending Chernow a few years ago.  I enjoyed Hamilton enough that I added Grant to my queue as soon as it was added to my library and after eight months of waiting, I got my turn. […]

The ten-dollar Founding Father without a father

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My first CBR 10 Bingo entry: Not my wheelhouse! I don’t read much history and I don’t read many biographies; an historical biography might be an actual first for me. I confess, I was swept away by the Hamilton Mania triggered by Lin-Manual Miranda’s fabulous musical about the founding father who grew up an orphan, immigrated to America, fought in the American Revolution, started the First Bank of the United States, and died as a result of a gunshot wound administered by Aaron Burr. Let’s […]

How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence impoverished in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?

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Despite never seeing the Tony Award winning musical I am unabashedly in love with the Hamilton soundtrack and while I plan to seek out Hamilton: The Revolution (as well as sell a kidney to see Hamilton when it comes to Dallas next year) I think Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton is a more expansive take on one of America’s founding fathers and I’m glad I started here. Lin-Manuel Miranda has made Hamilton a household name again after nearly two hundred years and Chernow’s biography played a big role in Miranda’s research. “Hamilton’s relatively short life robbed him […]



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