Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Bring Out Your Dead

A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe

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Written in 1722, this is an account of the epidemic of bubonic plague that ravaged England in 1665 and 1666, and is generally known as the Great Plague of London. One of the last major outbreaks of the disease in Europe, it led to the death of about 100,000 people in just 18 months. Although Defoe wrote this 60 years after the fact and told the story through the eyes of a fictional character, this may as well be a factual report of the events. […]

This grieved me heartily ; and now I saw, though too late, the folly of beginning a work before we count the cost

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

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I agree with the introduction for the edition of this 1719 novel in that the text is rich for diverse interpretation. It’s at one point a meditation on solitude and loneliness, and also about the things that society owes to its citizens. It’s also a treatise on race, racism, slavery, and imperialism. And mostly, for me, it’s an accidental lampoon on English chauvinism. All of this does not mean that it’s particularly enjoyable to read. This is my second reading, and the reason I picked […]

A bucket-list book that seemingly took FOREVER to read.

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I believe my exact words when I finished this book were, “I’m FREE!!!!” It seriously sapped so much out of me. Many years ago, back when I still thought I was going to be an 18th-century scholar (and over the next few months, I will repeat this refrain when I sift through more unread books that I collected), I purchased Robinson Crusoe and then ran from it in fear, because I’d heard that it was a slog. Finally, I conquered my fear and just read […]



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