Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

From Serf to Empress

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten

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CBR 15 Bingo – History: This is a historical novel which in following the rise of Catherine I recreates the world of late 17th century Russia. Born a serf, Marta manages through her cunning and luck to rise through society until she becomes the mistress and later wife of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia. This is an insane story of stratospheric social mobility, and I am shocked I hadn’t heard of it beyond Alpsten’s books. There’s plenty of shadowy corners in Catherine’s biography in […]

One of My Top Books of the Year

The Quest for Queen Mary by James Pope-Hennessy (edited by Hugo Vickers)

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CBR15Bingo — History I love, love, loved this book. This is a highlight of my reading year so far and a real keeper for my library of royal books. I do wonder what it is about royalty that tends to attract gay men — glamour? — because I felt very in sympathy with Pope-Hennessy’s fascination with royalty as a separate species of human beings throughout (I related very much to him being described as unremittingly homosexual in the introduction). As someone with a not insubstantial […]

Some princesses, a prince and a bear go on an adventure

 Swan Lake: Quest for the Kingdoms by Rey Terciero

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cbr15bingo Politics: two rival kingdoms are pitted against each other due to lack of understanding and greed There are way too many references to modern ideas, not to mention Swan Lake and Tchaikovsky in the graphic novel, Swan Lake: Quest for the Kingdoms.  But that is part of its charm for adults. For the 10 and up crowd, it is a funny, interesting story that mixes in friendship and assumptions and sword fights together. Combining all the fantasy and science fiction elements (I can make a […]

Tittle Tattle in Georgian London

The Real Bridgerton by Catherine Curzon

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This book guides us through a century of aristocratic scandals, covering both stories that are well-known today and others that have faded from public memory, discussing adultery, murder, and even incest. I read an awful lot of historical romance, and many Regency romances use the plot device of social ruin being carried around town by scandal sheets. Having read this book though, I am rather astonished that these fictional scandals managed to shock anyone at all, considering what the aristocracy was really getting up too! […]

‘The Habsburgs were the first rulers whose power encompassed the world, and they achieved greatness by luck and by force.’

The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power by Martyn Rady

In The Last Emperor of Mexico: The Dramatic Story of the Habsburg Archduke Who Created a Kingdom in the New World by Edward Shawcross

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For all the royal watching going on right now, its the British Royal Family that’s hugging the spotlight. And, really, how could they not? Liz the Second—who we all thought was destined to live forever—shockingly popped her clogs last year. And now her grandson seems to be taking his turn airing out the dirty laundry, much to people’s delight. But the lives of royals are always ripe for high drama, if you are into that kind of thing. So I’m going to ring in the […]

A secret Japanese princess

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean

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Tokyo Ever After is a YA romance about a teenager discovering she’s a Japanese princess. Izumi has lived in a small NorCal town her whole life. She isn’t the best student, especially since she doesn’t finish her homework. She’s been raised by her devoted single mom. Her mom has a close friendship with the weird hippy neighbor but has not dated anyone. Izumi’s been living a relatively carefree existence. Most of the year has been focused on applying to college. Her world is turned upside down […]



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