Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

FOMO/YOLO, MOFO!

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

by Leave a Comment

Cbr16bingo Tech I only picked this up in order to fill the Tech square on my bingo card. It’s not the kind of book I would have looked at otherwise — nonfiction with an emphasis on military flights and the space program? Ugh, no thanks. But in Tom Wolfe’s hands, the topic does become more interesting and readable. The book started as an article for Rolling Stone Magazine about that certain quality that the men involved in the early days of the space program seemed to […]

Tom Wolfe

The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby by Tom Wolfe

by Leave a Comment

“I don’t mean for this to sound like ‘I had a vision’ or anything, but there was a specific starting point for practically all of these stories.” There’s a saying that goes with the Velvet Underground, that when they first came out only about 1000 people bought their albums but that every one of that 1000 started a band. When you read this first Tom Wolfe collection, which I am certain has what some people consider some of his classic or most famous pieces, you […]

Tom Wolfe (the recent one)

Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe

From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe

Radical Chic by Tom Wolfe

Mau-mauing the Flak Catchers by Tom Wolfe

by 1 Comment

Bonfire of the Vanities – 5/5 Stars This novels begins with a press conference given by the mayor of New York. During the press conference, the mayor is constantly heckled by local Black activists, until he is booed off stage. This moment sets up to see various motifs and throughlines of this novel. From there, we’re introduced to our primary players, specifically three men of different backgrounds (although all white, educated, and at middle class): Sherman McCoy is a 40ish Wall street bonds salesman (bonds […]

Assorted Nonfiction I

The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe

Citizen by Claudia Rankine

Let Us Compare Mythologies by Leonard Cohen

A Load of Hooey by Bob Odenkirk

You Do You by Various

Here is New York by EB White

Bad Faith by Mike Daisy

by Leave a Comment

The Painted Word – Tom Wolfe – 4/5 Stars I haven’t read a lot of Tom Wolfe (white suit, not Southern writer) but he was one of those public figures who was just around in my childhood watching tv. He made a guest spot on the Simpsons for example. This essay takes a look at contemporary art about up to 1975 ending more or less with pop art and photorealism. The essay begins with a paraphrased idea that art used to work: the art drives […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo