Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Final 2024 Leftovers

1876 by Gore Vidal

Joe Country by Mick Herron

James by Percival Everett

Slough House by Mick Herron

Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie

The Contemplative Tarot: A Christian Introduction to the cards by Brittany Muller

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Hope everyone had a wonderful 2024. Remember that while we can’t control the horrors of the world, there is joy to be found in the presence of those we love. 1876**** Didn’t hit as hard as Burr; Burr’s presence was the center of the story that made it go, whereas this book wants to highlight every major player in the 1876 election. But Vidal does a good job of evoking the atmosphere of the time: the unapologetic corruption, the paranoia of another war and the […]

Thanksgiving 2024 Leftovers

Remembrance Day by Henry Porter

Dead Lions by Mick Herron

Zero Days by Ruth Ware

Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman

Killing Castro by Lawrence Block

Deadly Beloved by Max Allan Collins

Spy Hook by Len Deighton

London Rules by Mick Herron

Real Tigers by Mick Herron

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Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate. Remembrance Day**** An interesting take on the English-vs-Irish spy novel and while the author telegraphs too many things, he knows how to keep a story moving. Barely clears the 4-star threshold but if I invest time to read something almost 500 pages long, it has to be at least “good” and this was. Dead Lions, Real Tigers, and London Rules**** I had originally meant to do a big long post on my love/grr relationship with Mick Herron’s Slough House […]

Three For When It Happens Here

Spook Street by Mick Herron

Guide Me Home by Attica Locke

The Order by Daniel Silva

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Like a lot of folks in the ten days since the election, I’ve perhaps been slow to process the news. This has impacted my reading. Whereas I’m usually a speed reader, I have found myself often putting off my reading to do some mindless activities. Dealing with reality can be tough, the uncertainty of what comes after the next two months are over is difficult to grapple with. Inadvertently, the three books I’ve read from immediately before the election into the ten days since have […]

Escapist Fun

The Expats by Chris Pavone

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The Story: Kate Moore’s husband is offered a cushy job in Luxembourg, so they pack up their life in Washington, DC, and go. What no one in her life knows is that Kate–who up until the move seemed to be a pencil pusher at firm in Washington DC, and in Luxembourg is a stay-at-home mom–wasn’t just any pencil pusher but was in fact in the CIA. And soon enough, weird things start happening in Luxembourg that ping her CIA-dar. Another American couple moves to town, […]

Secret Agent Man

A Perfect Spy by John Le Carré

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John Le Carré’s books are often labors of love to read. This was both love and labor with neither of them necessarily intertwining. I don’t want to go into details but there was a specific moment at my job this past week where I had to face down reminders of a rough work moment from years before. Nothing bad in terms of abuse or harassment but awful stuff. And it felt good to be reading “Magnus Pym’s” (Le Carré’s, David Cornwell’s) story at the same […]

Early Fall Leftovers

To Start A War: How the Bush Administration Took Us Into Iraq by Robert Draper

The Travelers by Chris Pavone

A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block

Dark Fire by CJ Sansom

The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation by Robert Rand

Stasi Child by David Young

The Cover Wife by Dan Fesperman

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison

Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

Geiger by Gustaf Skördeman

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

The Devil Knows You're Dead by Lawrence Block

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I’ve read some interesting stuff lately and I wish I had made more time to document it but life gets in the way that life sometimes does. Not all bad, just life. To Start A War**** I had a long thing here about connecting this to the 2024 election but I don’t want to talk current electoral politics on here, at least the specifics of them. A good book if you want to know the intelligence (ha) perspective of how we wound up in a […]



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