Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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It’s about the Monkey Trial but so much more

Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee

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Cbr11bingo History/schmistory Inherit the Wind, the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, was inspired by the “Scopes Monkey Trial” of 1925. That real historic event brought the attention of the nation to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, as two titans — William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow — battled in a courtroom over the place of Darwin’s theory of evolution in the classroom. This matter, sadly, is still debated today, which makes the play as timely as ever. Yet, Inherit the Wind […]

All the colors in San Francisco’s history

Cool Gray City of Love by Gary Kamiya

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I have visited San Francisco more times than any other American city and I have lots of fond memories of it.  Save for Anaheim/ Disneyland, San Fran was the only American city my family visited when I was kid, and I still remember being simultaneously shocked and delighted by all the tattoos, piercings and homosexual PDA that I witnessed on that teenage trip (I grew up on farm on the Canadian prairies in the 90s, so these things were all novel…).  I’ve been back to […]

It’s All A Conspiracy, Baby!

Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History by David Aaronovitch

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A couple of years ago, a friend of mine who is not politically astute sent me a text asking if anyone ever got arrested for that “pizza thing.” I had no idea what he was talking about so I pressed him. He said, “You know, that child sex ring.” Oh yeah. That. Granted, he sent me this text two months after some gun-bearing idiot had gone to that pizza shop looking to solve things for himself. My friend, again who is not politically conscious, was referring to […]

You can always learn something, even amid explosion sound effects

Rivals! Frienemies Who Changed the World by Scott McCormick

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They say this is for ages 8 and up, and the sound effects and voices help with that, but there really is a lot of information in this! After finishing my other Audible Original for the month of July, The Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs, I thought I was pretty caught up on my dino knowledge.  Turns out, nope! That didn’t even mention anything (that I remember) that was featured in this section!  Maybe it was due to the fact that that one was made in […]

“If there is one man to whom I do feel myself inferior, it is a coal-miner”

The road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell

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George Orwell is not a great writer, but he is an admirable journalist. He does not shy away from difficulty or experiencing hardship on his own body. I admire him a lot for this trait of character. In The road to Wigan Pier he was commissioned by “the left bookclub” to write about the experience of miners in Yorkshire and Lancashire. Orwell has never been anything but clearly socialist and this is a book about socialism and an attempt to argue for its benefits for […]

Must-read historical fiction.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

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CBR11 Bingo – History/Schmistory   After reading Quinn’s previous novel, The Alice Network, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her new book. I adore her way of portraying women in historical fiction – finding the badass women who are the heroines of the story, not the background players. One part of this story follows the journey of Nina Markova, as she journeys from the wilds of the Soviet Union to Moscow, in order to join the Night Witches – a legendary group of […]



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