Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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The Long Road to Brighton

There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History by Rory Carroll

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In 1984, the IRA killed five people and came dangerously close to assassinating then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – and yet this disaster has gone mostly undiscussed in recent years. In this book, Carroll brings together the long chain of events which led up to the bombing, and unravels the complicated investigation that followed. Having been to school in both the United States and India, I like to think that I have gained a wider perspective on world history than I would have otherwise, but there […]

You Don’t Always Get What You Want

On Green Dolphin Street by Sebastian Faulks

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Alas, this was not the Green Dolphin I was looking for.  There is a jazz standard by this name that I love, and I know it was featured in a movie, based on a novel of the same name.  Well, almost the same name.  What I was looking for was Green Dolphin Street, based on an historical novel set in New Zealand.  So imagine my surprise when I pick up the book I had ordered from the library, and see the cover featuring a mid-century […]

When You End Up Skimming The Second Half of the Book … Maybe It’s Not For You

Why Marx Was Right by Terry Eagleton

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Best for: People who are already VERY familiar with Marx’s work and are looking for an outside opinion on how to defend different aspects of it. In a nutshell: Author Eagleton looks at what he believes are common arguments uses against Marxism and refutes them. Worth quoting: “Only through others can we come into our own.” Why I chose it: I thought it would be an interesting and easier to read way to learn more about Marx’s thoughts and writing. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t, at […]

Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk

Thous Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian's Guide to Engaging Politics by Eugene Cho

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Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian’s Guide to Engaging Politics by Eugene Cho My rating: 3 of 5 stars I chose this for the CBR15 Passport Challenge in the “New to You Author” category. Eugene Cho is a pastor in Seattle who became increasingly uncomfortable with the rise of Christian nationalism leading up to, and after, the 2016 election. “Thou Shalt Not be a Jerk” is his reminder to readers that if they claim to be Christians, then Jesus should be the center […]

“You want to know if they’re the mittens I wore to Biden’s inauguration. That’s all anyone wants to talk about these days: mittens, mittens, mittens.”

Feel the Bern by Andrew Shaffer

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CBR15 Passport Challenge: Books from different countries #1 When Crash, a new intern working for Bernie Sanders, accompanies her boss up to a small-town festival in Vermont, the last thing she expects is to discover a dead body – or that Bernie will insist on trying to solve the mystery. A few years ago I read Hope Never Dies, a comic mystery where Obama and Biden team up in the post-2016 election season to uncover the truth behind an Amtrak conductor’s death. Now Shaffer has […]

Remember the nothing class of Home Ec? Turns out it’s got a past.

The Secret History of Home Economics by Danielle Dreilinger

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What do chemistry, business, politics, and social justice have in common? I’m betting that no one would have automatically though “Home Economics!” but that’s exactly what The Secret History of Home Economics show. It all started with Catharine Beech, Olivia Washington (3rd wife of Booker T.), and Ellen Swallow in the late 1800s where educational opportunities for women were few and far between. By contextualizing studying chemistry as women as a way to develop better household practices, these ladies and more like them developed one […]



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