Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search this Site

Remind me never to go back in time

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott

by 2 Comments

This was a pretty well written, interesting look into a part of Civil War history that we don’t always get. Abbott warns at the beginning that some of the stories were told by the characters themselves and may have been exaggerated for the public and I definitely think that’s true at several points in the narrative. That caveat aside, it was really fascinating reading about these women’s lives. It was uncomfortable reading about the confederate characters, O’Neale and Boyd, but I think it’s important to […]

Male, Pale, and Yale

The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

by Leave a Comment

Or Harvard. Or West Point. Texas State. But the point remains: this book is about how liberal elites got us into an imperial war. I don’t know how you write a history text better than this. It has exactly what I look for in its subject’s great works: to be good, thorough, and damning. By the end of reading this, I was relieved to be done but thoroughly exhausted at the week-long endeavor, which I was only able to finish in seven days thanks to […]

Read it, like a child, into the night

Melmoth by Sarah Perry

by Leave a Comment

Helen Franklin is an English ex-pat in Prague on a mission to penalize herself for a mysterious past. However she cannot avoid the friendship of Karel and Thea and for a while she is almost happy. Then Melmoth appears. Melmoth is the an old tale of the wanderer, the one who is there to witness when no one else is and what she sees is the depravity, the loss the despair. Melmoth is just a myth, or so it seems until Karel gets a letter […]

Don’t Say We Didn’t Try

Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America's Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe by Rebecca Erbelding

by 1 Comment

Due to extensive documentation in all manner of media, World War II is an enduring object of fascination. Just when we think we’ve heard everything, the inexhaustible well comes up with something new. In my favored stories of resistance, espionage, politicking, and propaganda, the Holocaust—Nazi Germany’s systematic genocide of Jews in occupied Europe—is impossible to avoid. (Yes, other minority groups were targeted, too. This book is not about them.) It’s a favorite pastime among WWII buffs to finger people, besides the Germans, who ought to […]

Maybe the movie is better?

The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel

by 5 Comments

2.5 stars. I really, really wanted to like this book. Such an interesting story about world war 2 that doesn’t get told in schools. Hitler and other top brass during the war were obsessed with getting their hands on and hoarding artistic masterpieces. (Except, not modern art which they thought was degenerate and they sought to destroy.) Many treasures were stolen away and hidden, creating utter chaos in the art world. Cue the Monuments Men, a special force tasked with locating and saving these pieces […]

Don’t read this book!

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer

by 11 Comments

Normally I wouldn’t review a book I’d only read 22% of, but when that 22% is the size of a normal book, I feel pretty comfortable counting it. Also, nothing better than getting to pick out fuck off gifs for a book you hated, so there’s that I guess. I was so jazzed to tackle this behemoth as one of my first books in 2019. I’ve heard so many people talk about how this is the place to start with World War 2 history and […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo