Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

> FAQ Home
> Tag: american politics

I prayed this was not the doctor. “I’m the doctor!” he said, waving to the children.

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

by 4 Comments

I thought it over. Dollywood. “Islands in the Stream.” That body. She was the best thing that had ever come out of Tennessee. Jesus Christ, it wasn’t even close. ― Kevin Wilson, Nothing to See Here I’ll admit it. I chose this book because of its cover. The combination of the title plus a cartoon wrapped in flames immediately made me curious to see if the author shares the same dark sense of humor as I do. It turns out, they do. Nothing to see […]

The urgent truth of our history is all around us if we choose to listen.

We’ve Got to Try by Beto O’Rourke

by 2 Comments

When I saw the title of Beto O’Rourke’s new book, We’ve Got to Try, I thought, “yes, exactly! What are we trying?” We are trying to save democracy by rescuing voting rights from people who want to suppress it. That’s important, right? I think it’s important. I think it’s important to try and keep trying especially when success isn’t guaranteed. In We’ve Got to Try: How the Fight for Voting Rights Makes Everything Else Possible, O’Rourke is telling the stories of the people who fought […]

The wonkier version of “Hamilton”

Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America by Jack Rakove

by 4 Comments

A very different account of the putting together of the American system of government.  This is the sort of stuff your high school American History (if you had such a class) textbook glossed over, and it’s fascinating to see, in such detail, how it all came together.  Oh sure, there’s some mention of Washington the general, and the various battles, and the multitude of issues the British Empire was facing at the same time, but that’s not where the heart of this book lies. I […]

would you say it’s time for our viewers to crack open each other’s skulls?

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

by 1 Comment

As the US government shut down drags on, I figured it was time to learn more about the threat the Trump presidency poses to the day-to-day running of America. Turns out that, like basically every political story from anywhere in the world at the moment, it’s significantly worse than I thought.   Michael Lewis books are almost their own specific little sub-genre now – relatively light and readable looks at deeply boring topics. The Fifth Risk has less of an overarching narrative than previous works […]

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

The Golden House by Salman Rushdie

by Leave a Comment

  Hey, so did you know that Salman Rushdie doesn’t like Donald Trump? Because he doesn’t. He really, really hates him, in fact. I know this because I read the Golden House, which is ostensibly about Rene and his relationship with his neighbors, the Golden Family, but it is actually quite a bit about the fact that Donald Trump became president and Rushdie didn’t like it. This is good and bad, in some ways the device works, but in others it was a little too […]

We were to use this in ladylike recreation

Annie John; The Beauty of the Husband; Beautiful Mutants; The Taiga Syndrome; Birding is my Favorite Video Game; Late Bloomer; American Politics by Jamaica Kincaid; Anne Carson; Deborah Levy; Cristina Rivera Garza; Rosemary Mosco; Julia Kaye; Laura Locker Julia Scheele

by Leave a Comment

I am going to be honest here. I might not hit the word count with each of these reviews. Some books lend themselves to more of a review than others. Annie John – 3/5 Stars Annie John is a short novel by the Antiguan novelist Jamaican Kincaid. Jamaica Kincaid is best known for her thoroughly brilliant and forever anthologized short story “Girl”. “Girl” is so good not only because of the power of the voice and the effectiveness of the images, but because it’s the […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo