Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Cults, Sex, and Vegetarian Recipes

Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat ― An American History by Christina Ward

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I loved this book, which is an odd thing to say because it took me weeks to finish it. It is dense. And the crazy stuff that people called “religion” required more than a few re-reads. On Rosicrucianism Paschal Beverly Randolph saw sex as a powerful energy that could be controlled and sublimated into magical works. As he explored sex magic and the power of the Will, he came to odds with Madame Blavatsky who, as others have testified, tried to kill him with her […]

Exploring the Newgate State Prison and Copper Mine: Connecticut’s Most Interesting Tourist Attraction

Newgate: From Copper Mine to State Prison by William G. Domonell

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CBR15Bingo: Edibles (what these poor men had to eat was truly horrific, despite the tour guide trying to tell us they ate well — the explanatory board on the grounds of the prison and this book both say the men had to eat pickled pork that the guards would throw on the ground and then the prisoners would have to boil it in the water from the forge). This is a brief volume explaining the history behind the historic Newgate Prison and Copper Mine, which […]

I would not have been a settler.

Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne

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I read S.C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon as part of a book club. The titular empire in this work of history is Comanche empire. Gwynne says it was the Comanches that determined when the West opened up to white settlers. For decades and decades, no one could get around them. About half-way through our club meeting, someone asked a question that’s good to ask about any book: What is this book about? Empire’s cover features Comanche leader Quanah Parker, and Parker’s name is […]

Remember the nothing class of Home Ec? Turns out it’s got a past.

The Secret History of Home Economics by Danielle Dreilinger

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What do chemistry, business, politics, and social justice have in common? I’m betting that no one would have automatically though “Home Economics!” but that’s exactly what The Secret History of Home Economics show. It all started with Catharine Beech, Olivia Washington (3rd wife of Booker T.), and Ellen Swallow in the late 1800s where educational opportunities for women were few and far between. By contextualizing studying chemistry as women as a way to develop better household practices, these ladies and more like them developed one […]

December 2022 Leftovers

The Burning Room by Michael Connelly

Nineteen Eighty Three by David Peace

Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder by Steve Hodel

And There He Kept Her by Josh Moehling

The Crossing by Michael Connelly

The Nice Guys by Charles Ardai

What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe

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Happy Holidays! Here are the books I finished this month that didn’t merit full reviews due to time constraints and/or a lack of 250 words to describe them… The Burning Room**** Usually with Bosch books, I can tell within the first 30 pages if they’re gonna be good or not. This one was different. I didn’t have a sense for it at first and had a little trouble connecting with it but it turned out to be great. I liked Connelly’s integration of Lucia Soto, […]

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 […]



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