Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About MarkAbaddon

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Somehow I have turned into a real life Ross Geller, having now been married 3 times. Otherwise, just your normal Jewish geek living in MN. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: MarkAbaddon's Quick Questions interview.)

MarkAbaddon's Reviews:

Last Defender of Camelot – one of Zelazny’s best

Last Defender of Camelot by Roger Zelazny

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After finishing a book I really hated, I needed to cleanse my palate, so to speak. The song Guinevere from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young came on and I realized it had been a while since I had re-read The Last Defender of Camelot. It does not disappoint. Is the style a bit dated? Sure. Are there some problematic passages in “Damnation Alley”? Without question, especially the Nazi ones and the handling of female characters in that story (one reason why this received 4 stars […]

Edge Dancer – it fell off a cliff

Edge Dancer by Brandon Sanderson

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My son got me started on the Stormlight Archives series from Brandon Sanderson and I fell in love with the story. They were complex, filled with interesting characters and a world that was richly defined. None of that is present in this book. Edge Dancer takes places after book 2 of the Stormlight Archives and focuses solely on one character that appeared in a brief aside in book 2. One of the strengths of the previous books was the multitude of characters, all of whom […]

Gangsters vs. Nazis – some interesting philosophical questions

Gangsters vs. Nazis by Michael Benson

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Full disclosure right from the start, I am a practicing Jew. So when my friend lent me this book, Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in Wartime America, I knew I had to read it. Many may not realize this, but the Nazi movement was quite strong in the United States in the 1930s, especially within the German American community. One of the first surprises this book had for me was who gave the initial impetus behind the Jewish mobsters attacking the Nazis: […]

All That She Carried – a powerful and important book

All That She Carried by Tiya Miles

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What can a simple sack tell us about the past? As it turns out, an absolutely incredible amount. Sometime in the 1850s, a slave named Rose sent her daughter Ashley out of South Carolina to escape slavery with a sack that contained a tattered dress, 3 handfuls of pecans, a braid of her mom’s hair and love. With these talismanic items, Ashley (who was still a child) was able to escape the hellish conditions of the South to freedom in the North. How do we […]

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year One

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year One by Tom Taylor

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My experience has been that most comic based on video games are…less than stellar. And when I have not even played the game on which it is based, I am even more reluctant to read the book. However, my son’s oldest friend has been asking me to read this for several years and so I started it this month. I am so glad I listened to him as this was a fun and interesting read. The main concept is that Superman “Breaks bad” and Batman […]

Winter People – a unique take on reviving the dead

Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

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For the life of me, I really wish I could remember what site or person recommended the Winter People to me, because I want to thank them, as it was a refreshingly good read. Pet Sematary is one of my favorite Stephen King novels and this story plays with similar themes but places it in more of a historical and feminist context. The story takes place over 100 years and can switch times without warning, which I found a bit disorienting at first. You get […]



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