Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

slick with sweat, thick with hate-and I love it

The Lover by Marguerite Duras

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Somehow, this incredible little novella flew completely under my radar until last year. Luckily, the folks over at Lit Hub are absolutely obsessed, and I was unable to remain in the dark for much longer. When it’s in a book I don’t think it’ll hurt any more …exist any more. One of the things writing does is wipe things out. Replace them. While not entirely an “autobiography”, Duras tells the tale of a very young girl who grew up in an unstable household in French-colonized […]

“With a return ticket, courage becomes an intellectual exercise.”

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

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From 1951-54, Graham Greene was a foreign correspondent in French Indochina.  Contrary to the belief of some, Edward Lansdale (a pioneer of American intelligence operations) was not the inspiration for the character of Pyle (the titular Quiet American). Greene instead based the character on a man named Leo Hochstetter, with whom he shared a room and traveled to Saigon from Ben Tre. Hochstetter lectured Greene on finding a “third force” in Vietnam: a democratic alternative to colonialism and communism. The Quiet American takes place in […]

One Woman Holds a Torch for the Three Women Who Kicked Down the Door to War

You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War by Elizabeth Becker

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My master’s adviser at the University of Washington had rejected my thesis on the Bangladesh War of Independence after I refused to sleep with him. He said the one was not related to the other but would welcome having an affair if I changed my mind. That infuriating fact  introduces us to Elizabeth Becker. Becker is no stranger to reporting; she has covered revolution, war, and genocide all over the world. She has won many prizes for her work, including (but not limited to the) […]

CBR12 Book Bingo – Orange

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

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The Great Alone was a book I heard so much about prior to picking it up. However, at about 50 pages in, I wondered what all the fuss was about. The slow build was a bit of a grind, but I trusted that the fabulous reviews were not wrong. Boy, am I glad I did not give up. The Great Alone quickly picked up steam, and I was entranced. When Ernt Allbright came home from the Vietnam war, he was different. With a stormy mood that flips like […]

Underwhelming prize winner

The Time in Between by David Bergen

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Charles Boatman, an aging Vietnam veteran, returns to Vietnam to come to terms with his time as an American soldier in the Vietnam war.  When Charles disappears, his 27 year old daughter, Ada, and 25 year old son, Jon, make the trip themselves to try and find answers.  The novel flits back and forth between Charles’ story and Ada’s.  With Charles we get some of the fairly predictable elements for a Vietnam war novel- his time in Vietnam as young man, his marriage and how […]

Surfs up and so is the adventures

Trot & Cap'n Bill Adventure V01 Sea Sirens by Amy Chu

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A pet peeve of mine is picking up book two in a series and not realizing it is book two. I did that with the Trot & Cap’n Bill Adventure series by Amy Chu. I stopped reading it and figured someday I would find book one or just see what I could see in it. What happened was that book one, Sea Sirens, found me. Browsing through some books on our return cart, I noticed it. Just sitting there. Quietly. Waiting. And Sea Sirens was […]



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