Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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The Doctor is a Life Saver

A Doctor at Heart: The Story of Groundbreaking Scientist and Teacher Vivien Thomas by Joan Schoettler and Steffi Walthall

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This man grew up in a family that demanded perfection, he would grow up to graduate with honors, he would lose all his money in the stock market crash, and he would go on to be the man who helped find a cure for blue baby syndrome. He was Vivien Thomas. Oddly enough, though they mention the pay discrepancies, there is not a lot about the racism Thomas would have faced.  And though there is the story of how he got his “girls name,” I […]

Oh Baby

Prom Mom by Laura Lippman

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Amber is a teenager. She is smart, does well at school, and when her boyfriend takes her to prom she couldn’t be happier. But then her boyfriend leaves to pursue the girl he really wants. Amber doesn’t feel well, goes to their hotel room alone, and gives birth to a premature baby she didn’t know she was carrying. The baby dies, and Amber is sent to juvie for an indeterminate length of time. When she gets out, she restarts her life elsewhere. Years later, in […]

Player of Pearl

Earl the Pearl: My Story by Earl Monroe

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I’ve always been fascinated by NBA player Earl “The Pearl” Monroe. I don’t know when I first became familiar of him being a great player, first for the Baltimore Bullets, then the New York Knicks. But my first memory is the Denzel Washington monologue in He Got Game where he talks about how Earl was called “Jesus” on the playgrounds of Philadelphia because he was such a great player. I wanted to know more about Monroe’s time in Baltimore. Being a native, I have always considered him […]

November 2023 Leftovers

Catch and Release by Lawrence Block

We Do This 'til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba

The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched an Empire by John Eisenberg

Ghosts of West Baltimore by David Simmons

Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci

Hit Me by Lawrence Block

Donnie Brasco by Joseph D. Pistone

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Happy Thanksgiving to all who observe! Catch and Release *** Been angling to read more LB lately so I figured I’d knock out this short story collection for my monthly HCC read. Sadly, the results were predictable: a repetition of serial killers, hit men and un-sexy sex. I just can’t sink my teeth into books featuring short stories and this one was no exception. I enjoyed visiting Matt and Mick at Grogan’s again and the last story was fun but beyond that? Who lotta eh and […]

Horror Month 2023: #12

Ghosts of East Baltimore by David Simmons

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While Horror Month 2023 has been a minor disappointment, it did encourage me to finish books I would have otherwise put off reading. That includes this little ditty, which I greatly enjoyed. I’ve worked and lived in Baltimore. I love the city so much. But it is a city of heartbreak. Violent crime, racial disparity, income inequality, a paucity of resources for young people, drug overdoses everywhere. It’s not the citizen’s fault, it’s the city’s for being so inept, the state of Maryland for being […]

The Night Of

Prom Mom by Laura Lippman

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Read as part of CBR15bingo: adulthood. The book focuses on people who are moving on to adulthood in the present day after something terrible happened to them in their respective pasts.  Laura Lippman’s been on a roll in the last decade with these standalone novels. This is another winner and while it might not be on the level of Sunburn or Dream Girl, it’s still quite good. Lippman is very good at writing about people who are perpetually bound together in certain ways, often by tragedy. Here in […]



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