Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Lights on in Hell’s Kitchen

The Westies by TJ English

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I read The Westies years ago. When The Departed came out, I had a fixation for anything to with the Irish Mob and randomly found this in my local Borders (RIP). I remember it being interesting at the time but I wasn’t into it as I was tales of Whitey Bulger and Boston, who I thought had a more compelling story. So it sat in the recesses of my mind for years. On another organized crime kick, I decided to re-read it. Even though I didn’t retain much of what I read before, I remain fascinated with the idea that there was this violent gang […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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10/2/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:100 |

Terrible True Crime Book That Focuses on Everything but the Subject of the Book

The Wilderness of Ruin: A Tale of Madness, Fire, and the Hunt for America's Youngest Serial Killer by Roseanne Montillo

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Not too much to say except I echo the other readers who complained about this book being about everything except Jesse Pomeroy. Montillo seems to want to show her research into everything but him and we focus on the history of Boston, the Boston Great Fire, Herman freaking Melville, and honestly I think left a big question mark about whether Pomeroy was the person who murdered Katie Curran. “The Wilderness of Ruin” is a true crime book focusing on the United States youngest serial killer, Jesse Pomeroy. Born in 1859, in Boston, the young boy had a deformity of the […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/30/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:235 |

Winners Take All

Casino by Nicholas Pileggi

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Continuing my rather unexpected trip through books that inspired Martin Scorsese films (I finished I Heard You Paint Houses a week ago), here’s Nicholas Pileggi’s Casino. I was excited to read it because: I watched the movie years ago and remember almost nothing about it. I recently watched Hustlers and people kept comparing it to Casino. I enjoyed Pileggi’s other true crime mafia tale Wiseguy, which was the basis for the movie Goodfellas So I went into this one with a lot of excitement. And it’s…fine. Just fine. Pileggi’s style is much more to my liking than Charles Brandt’s is. It’s structured the same way but Pileggi is a […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/20/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:93 |

Who’s Up for a Day at the Races?

The Fine Cotton Fiasco by Peter Hoysted, Pat Sheil

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I am not much of a horse person. Far from being the kid who immersed themselves in Pony Club, I never learnt to ride and was possibly even allergic to them until the age of about twelve or thirteen – put me around the horsey stuff, and I would break out in hives. I’m not much of a fan of horse racing either, which is probably to the dismay of some members of my extended family, as they’re pretty heavily into it. There have always been suspect elements common to any enterprise that involves betting. Someone will always try and […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/16/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:13 |

The Irishman

I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt

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I Heard You Paint Houses is not a good book. It’s like reading a court transcript with historical footnoting, which made it a slog for me to read. Maybe Charles Brandt’s other books are better because he’s more interested in editorializing his subject’s reminiscence instead of just putting it out there with minimal context and background work. However, the book did what it needed to do for me. I’m a big Martin Scorsese fan and this is the inspiration for his newest movie The Irishman. Instead of looking for quality, I simply wanted to know what kind of story I was getting with […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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9/13/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:91 |

The Reverend

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

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Disclaimer: This is not an impartial review. The author Casey Cep and I attended grad school for a year. Though we’ve lost touch, I consider her an old friend and think highly of her. Harper Lee is an iconic American figure almost as much for her reclusiveness as her writing. Aside from a smattering of journal articles, her one hit wonder To Kill A Mockingbird is probably the most printed book in history outside of the Bible, yet she never wrote anything else and maintained a veiled private life.   Yet apparently, she always had an interest in lawyers and true crime […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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8/22/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:83 |

In a gadda da vida, baby

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

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A non fiction book that reads partly like a travelogue and partly like a novel, it’s easy to see why Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has become known as a true crime classic. I devoured this almost whole, and even managed to forget that it was about a crime until I got half way through and the deed occurred, immersed as I was in getting to know Savannah’s society. Author John Berendt had visited Savannah and fallen in love, and so decided to rent a home there. Throwing himself into Savannah’s social whirl, the first half of […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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8/11/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:30 |

Write What You Know

My Dark Places by James Ellroy

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Read as part of CBR11Bingo: Biography/Memoir As I said a few weeks ago in my review of This Storm, I recently met James Ellroy at a book signing. I confess to feeling some intimidation. I’ve heard many stories over the years of Ellroy’s abrasive and forward personality in public. I shared in a social media group about getting ready to meet Ellroy and one guy shared a story about him fat shaming a kid at a book signing. Granted, it was hearsay but in line with what I expected. Anyway, once Ellroy got there, he spoke in his typical rhyming, alliterative […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

Share the post "Write What You Know"

7/6/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:53 |


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