Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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The American Female Q

In True Face: A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked by Jonna Méndez

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Jonna began her work at the CIA as a ‘career wife,’ supporting her husband’s job, but soon she started taking on bigger and important roles in the agency, for which she lived all over the world and eventually rose to the position of Chief of Disguise. Having read plenty about the CIA’s origins as the OG old boy’s club in which a lot of men threw ideas at a wall and hoped they’d stick during World War 2, this book was interesting to me for […]

“Every war is a war against the child.”

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear

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CBR17 Bingo: White – Behold, the cover. Also, a bonus! The title. Elinor is a veteran of two world wars and a trained killer, but all she wants now is to retreat into a peaceful, solitary existence in the English countryside. But when a violent past comes back to haunt her neighbors, she cannot help but become drawn in. I’m sure I’ll eventually get around to checking out Winspear’s long-running Maisie Dobbs series, but in the meanwhile I figured I’d pick up the standalone The […]

“Off On An Interesting Adventure”

Flirting with Danger: The Mysterious Life of Marguerite Harrison, Socialite Spy by Janet Wallach

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CBR17 Bingo: Borders – Marguerite crosses the borders of many countries during her work as a journalist and spy, but also crossed the boundaries that constrained women in this era in both her work and her personal life. After being widowed young, Marguerite Harrison plunged into work as a journalist, but her charm and her adventurous spirit leads her into a more covert role as a spy. My understanding of the history of American spycraft is mostly limited to the hijinks of the OSS during […]

With Enemies Like These

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre

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I don’t think there’s much of a distinction between this and Ben Macintyre’s other works: it’s well researched, narratively streamlined, and occasionally thrilling. But this feels like his best book by far. And I don’t have much in the way of justification for saying that aside from how deeply personal it feels like Kim Philby’s betrayal still feels to him and the English. I say “the English” specifically because while MI-6 technically serves the United Kingdom, this is very much an English story. A story […]

How the World Works

Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy by Matthew Campbell & Kit Chellel

The Constant Gardener by John Le Carré

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Finished two consecutive books on how the world works. Both are good and devastating in their own respective ways Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy When the cargo ship Dalit hit Baltimore’s Key Bridge last year, I felt it deeply, not just because I’m a Baltimorean but because I’ve worked with seafarers in the past. It’s a hard life: dangerous labor with little pay and almost no labor protections. Away from your family months at a […]

Have Seen the Enemy

Smiley's People by John Le Carré

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Of the many things that can be said about John Le Carré’s George Smiley series — and there is a lot to be said — the overarching lesson is how you can never really “win” at espionage. Oh sure, you can occasionally foil the enemy, maybe draw some large gains or uncover revelations. Espionage helps win war when an actual war is going on. But when war is fought in the shadows — and the Cold War most certainly was — one’s never going to […]



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