Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Describe in two words: FREAKING WOW

Chance: Escape from the Holocaust by Uri Shulevitz

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The book: Chance: Escape from the Holocaust by Uri Shulevitz One word: WOW. Okay two words. FREAKING WOW I cannot tell you how fantastic this book is. Just read. It is not easy, it is sad, heartbreaking, scary, beautiful, hopeful and more. It covers all the emotions. It shows you a piece of World War II that we don’t know about. Again, WOW and go read. For mature readers at least 12-13 and up, but I would recommend older. But if you read with them, […]

Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart

Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany by Katja Hoyer

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I’ve been searching for interesting books about Soviet bloc countries. Specifically, ones about East Germany. I’ll admit that much of my fascination has to do with my adoration for the TV show “The Americans,” and the somewhat idealistic view us Gen-Xers and Millennials have of growing up in America in the 1980s and 1990s (looking at you Stranger Things). The narrative about life in East Germany was so controlled, especially in news and entertainment, that I knew very little about East Germany other than their […]

Living with the Inexplicable

The Dyatlov Pass Mystery by Cédric Mayen, Jandro González

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When nine hikers go missing on the slopes of Dyatlov Pass in 1959, a prosecutor working for the Soviet Union must attempt to uncover the truth, though his job is only made more difficult by the strange circumstances and the caginess of the government. The Dyatlov Pass mystery is a case I’ve heard of before. Even decades later, there’s no consensus on what caused the hikers to flee their tents into the snow, where they all eventually froze to death. There’s plenty of strange features […]

A brief history of the Soviet Union and an homage to Casablanca

A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel by Amor Towles

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There’s a lot to love about this novel: the writing, the characters, the author’s knowledge of Russian history and literature. The premise behind the novel may seem a bit fantastical, but somehow Amor Towles makes me believe it and want it to be true. In 1922, fictional Count Alexander Rostov was brought before a Revolutionary court and found guilty of being an enemy of the people. Given his class, he might have been executed, but in 1913 Rostov had written poetry sympathetic to revolutionary ideals, […]

He loved art, but not puzzles

The Genius Under the Table: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Eugene Yelchin

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I had not realized how recently published The Genius Under the Table: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Eugene Yelchin was. I figured this was a 1990s books or even earlier due the 1980s style of cover. But then again, since the author was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s it is probably appropriate to have that feeling to the cover. We learn about the author/illustrator in a way only they can tell us. The troubles, the love, the misunderstandings, the political and […]

Hiding in plain sight.

Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis by Susan Hood and Greg Dawson

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Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis is a romanticized look at how two Jewish girls lived when millions did not. Told in alternating voices, the Narrator, and “Anna” herself or, Zhanna Arshanskaya we learn how Zhanna and her sister Frina, were hiding in plain sight. They performed for the Nazi command, allies of the Nazi and eventually, for themselves. But no matter how much they feared being found out, betrayed by supposed friends, or their hatred of the Nazis, they always felt […]



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