Cannonball Read 15

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The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson

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Wow. Fantastic. It took me a while to get through (it’s over 500 pages) but very much enjoyed. I loved the focus on Churchill, his family, and the rest of the inner circle that kept Britain going during WWII. We also get some insights into Germany, Hitler, and others who were focused on trying to take out Churchill since they saw him as the reason for Britain’s continued defiance. The book goes very briskly after the U.S. enters the war. Larson wraps things up on […]

Churchill, the Blitz, and British Grit

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

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I’ve read most of Erik Larson’s books, and you really can’t go wrong if you want an interesting (some say cinematic) take on history. That said, I had more trouble becoming engaged with The Splendid and the Vile than I have some of his other works, my interest in London during the Blitz notwithstanding (and really, will Larson ever be able to top Devil in the White City?). Slow to get going, the book picks up in the second half, and it’s definitely worth sticking out to […]

Hubris is the name of the game.

Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson

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This was just an okay read for me. A narrative non-fiction account of the hurricane in 1900 that was one of the most destructive in American history, Isaac’s Storm is really a feat of research and documentation. It’s clear Larson did his homework. It just never really grabbed me, until it did grab me but in a very unpleasant way. Larson painstakingly accounts the days leading up to the hurricane, mostly focusing on Isaac Cline, who headed up the Galveston, TX branch of the weather […]

It’s the end of the world as they knew it

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

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I’m a new-er fan of Erik Larson. I read Devil in the White City only last year (or last last year?) which makes me unique in these parts, these parts being the Chicagoland area. That book details the creation of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, as well as the horrific serial killings by H.H. Holmes during that time period, and it is compelling. It’s pretty much required reading here, much like (shudder) Kate Chopin’s The Awakening in Louisiana which I read, I dunno, 5 […]

The book that reignited a genre

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

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There was a time where it really felt like just everyone and their mother was reading this book and talking about this book. And there’s good reason – it’s absolutely fascinating  and Larson does an incredible job of making cold historical facts absolutely fascinating. I could be wrong, but the modern idea of narrative nonfiction really started here, carried through largely by Larson himself. Fifteen years later, the book doesn’t hold up quite as well as I remember. Larson leans hard into “this is all […]

Non-fiction review dump (and two CBR11 Bingos)

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi, Joshua David Stein

Naturally Tan by Tan France

Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

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Whoo-hoo! Two non-fiction books gets me two more squares and two Bingos! I may not manage a black-out before the end of the month but I am finally making some headway in this game. CBR 11 Bingo: Award Winner The Devil in the White City- Erik Larson Y’all, I read this book in July and then completely forgot about it. In my defense The Devil in the White City has the dubious honor of being the book I was reading when I found out I was pregnant and […]



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