Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“The past is the future”

Obasan by Joy Kogawa

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Cbr17bingo citizen Over the years, I have read a number of books that have dealt with the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy and Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic and When the Emperor Was Divine were all written from personal, family experiences of that shameful chapter in US history that was left out of history books when I was in school (and is probably being removed from them now). I had never heard of Joy […]

“Did I ever imagine how things were going to turn out? No, thank God. Why thank God? Had it been that bad? No, of course not. Only quite, quite different. Just as well one didn’t know in advance.”

Change Lobsters and Dance by Lilli Palmer

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I had no recollection of why I purchased this book until about halfway through when David (Edward VIII) and Wallis showed up. Then I realized this must have been cited in some biography I read about him, Wallis, or Jimmy Donahue (as Jimmy is also in this book, and I remember the disastrous dinner party described here, where he jumps off the yacht twice and humilates them in front of Greta Garbo). But putting that whole grim group aside, this was a lovely surprise to […]

Love, Kindness, Danger

The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival by Estelle Nadel, Bethany Strout and Sammy Savos

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“There are very few survivors left, and I want the world to know that there was a Holocaust” The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival is a short graphic novel, but has a lot packed in. Estelle Nadel, Bethany Strout and Sammy Savos created an informative, quick story about how one girl survived during wartime, a girl who was lost and how she found her voice when all seemed to be the end of the world.  There are uncomplicated illustrations supporting […]

“I suppose one has to have lived in the U.S.S.R. to know what a priceless treasure security is.”

Liberation — Russian Style by Ada Halpern

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My mom suggested I read this and I’m glad she did (she knows me well and this is the sort of book that’s right up my alley). Liberation — Russian Style is short at only 106 pages, but it packs a big emotional punch and really drives home the inhumanity of the forced civilian deportations by the Soviet government during WWII. This is one of those overlooked historical events in the American understanding of the US, I think, but millions of people were forcibly deported, […]

Time traveling is for nerds.

Blackout (All Clear, #1) by Connie Willis

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 1/30 I’ve sat on this review for several weeks now and the feelings that I have for this book—despite its clear flaws—are overwhelmingly positive. So I’m rounding up to four stars! I always enjoy a Connie Willis book, even when they are debilitatingly sad (looking at you Doomdsay Book), but they do have their flaws. She is OBSESSED with miscommunication and people being unable to find each other, and those kind of plots (which I am not interested […]

The perfect mix of war and noir

Five Decembers by James Kestrel

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Five Decembers by James Kestrel won the 2022 Edgar Award for best novel. It is a solid murder mystery that involves a classic noir detective story paired with international intrigue and  the Pacific Theater in WWII. Main character Joe McGrady is army brat who went to college and later served in the army before settling in Hawaii and becoming a detective in the Honolulu Police Department. His boss, Capt. Beamer, is a chain-smoking benzedrine-inhaling hard nose who hates Joe and makes it clear that he […]



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