Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Nonetheless, I still want to be a lighthouse keeper

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

by Leave a Comment

I read Ahab’s Wife at an impressionable age and it filled me with a deep hatred of whales (unfair to them, I know) and a fierce desire to be a lighthouse keeper. Despite many things keeping me from a serious pursuit of such an endeavor (I keep moving further and further away from the ocean, the aforementioned hatred of whales, my reliance on the internet…) I will always jump at the chance to read something lighthouse adjacent. The Light Between Oceans starts off strong- a quiet and […]

a slight peek into the obscured past

Costalegre by Courtney Maum

by Leave a Comment

The concept of capital-A ART reigns lavishly above the characters within Costalegre. A woman and her daughter, stand-ins for Peggy and Pegeen Guggenheim, go to Mexico to wait out the steamroller of World War II. They are surrounded by the mother’s collection of artists and hangers-on. They wait for a steamship full of the mother’s collection of art which may still be creeping across the ocean towards their hideaway in the jungle. The mother’s collection is full of people and pieces deemed to be unworthy; Europe did […]

Very specific historical non-fiction

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers by Elizabeth Cobbs

by Leave a Comment

Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman was a fun little footnote of history expanded into an interesting book. The Oxford English Dictionary is THE authority for words in the english language and this book describes what was essentially the invention of dictionaries and the significance that had. The compilation of words for the dictionary required a massive effort so Professor James Murray requested the assistance of the public. That’s when Dr. W. C. Minor began contributing words and first usages to the OED.  Minor […]

Arguably, America’s Greatest General

George Marshall: Defender of the Republic by David L. Roll

by Leave a Comment

I remember learning about the Marshall Plan in AP US History class and how critical it was to repairing the world after WWII. I did not realize until years later that General George C. Marshall was individual who lent his name to the plan. I’ve been in the Army for thirteen years, as of yesterday, and I’ve developed opinions on many famous generals from our history. Most of those opinions are demonstrably leery of anyone who receives unadulterated hero worship. I am not a fan […]

Great Bookend for The Guns of August

Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan

by 2 Comments

 Shout out to faintingviolet and JenK for the EXCELLENT recommendation.  They recommended this one after I read The Guns of August last year. Paris 1919 is an account of all the events that took place after the armistice that ended WWI through the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. MacMillan crafts the narrative around the three major figures and personalities at the conference: US President Woodrow Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and French President Georges Clemenceau and seeks to prove that the Treaty […]

S.O.S.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

by Leave a Comment

Dead Wake is a non-fiction account of what happened to the Lusitania, the ocean liner sunk by a German u-boat that led to the the United States joining WWI.  That was the extent of my knowledge about the topic prior to this book.  I remember learning about the sinking of the Lusitania in high school but like most US history classes, we were racing through the 20th century at the end of the school year so it was a footnote, along with the Zimmerman Telegram […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo