Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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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 […]

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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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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.

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

I nearly cried myself dry

Dance with the Devil: A Memoir of Murder and Loss by David Bagby

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If you’ve seen Dear Zachary, you’ll already know of the harrowing case that is contained within this book. I haven’t seen the film but was gifted this, and can now safely say that I will continue to avoid the film for fear of crying myself into a dessicated shell of my former self. Dance With the Devil is the memoir of David Bagby, father to Andrew and grandfather to Zachary, whose lives were both cruelly stolen by Dr Shirley Turner. It’s a howl of grief, a devastating memoir of the effects of their loss on David and his wife, 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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6/7/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:17 |

United States v. One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton

The Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth's Ultimate Trophy by Paige Williams

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This was the second nonfiction book in a row where true crime and Leonardo DiCaprio both played a role. Not saying Leo’s up to some shady shit (don’t sue me Leo!), but it is a little weird right? He might be living his life on the criminal fringes of society to come into contact with so much shadiness. Or maybe all rich people are like that? Maybe just certain rich people are like that. I seriously doubt the Gates are trying to procure illegal dinosaurs and have their latest creative endeavors funded by con men. ANYWAY, Leonardo tangent aside… This […]

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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5/21/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:42 |

Serial Bad Writing

The Killer Book of Serial Killers by Tom Philbin and Michael Philbin

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For a research library, my university’s stacks are pretty lacking in texts that are actually helpful to most students’ work, so I often help out my students by taking out books from my own library system. This is how I ended up with The Killer Book of Serial Killers. I would never have selected this myself based on the cover alone, but my student found it and was intrigued, and who am I to judge the sources he wants to use for his Criminology final? We discussed a few of the features in it while he was sitting in the office, […]

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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4/24/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:14 |

What a Bunch of A-holes

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton

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This book tells the story of the kinds of people I despise: libertarians who idolize Ayn Rand and Walter White, and cops who think they are cowboys. American Kingpin: Catching the Billion-Dollar Baron of the Dark Web is a bananas story. It’s fascinating, disturbing and funny in the the way that you just have to laugh at the absurdity or rage at the horseshit. There are only a couple of people in this story I didn’t want to slap. I don’t think Nick Bilton is a particularly skillful author, but he doesn’t ruin it either. The sheer lunacy of the true […]

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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4/23/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:20 |

Journalistic account

Fred & Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors by Howard Sounes

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I first heard of the Wests when the Appropriate Adult mini-series/movie came on cable here in the US. It had Dominic West and Emily Watson, so it was good. Therefore, when the eBook version of this book came up for sale, I brought it. After reading a mystery that used the Wests as a plot point, I decided to read this book. The Wests, Fred and Rose, were murderers and rapists who targeted younger women and buried some of the victims in the yard of their house. One of the murdered victims was their eldest biological daughter, and it seems […]

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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3/18/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:44 |

Beware those who promise that they have the answer to everything

Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest by Gregg Olsen

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Perfect reading for cold, dark nights, Starvation Heights is a fantastic helping of true crime that reads like a thriller that will have you constantly scurrying to the kitchen for sandwiches, as well as giving a wide berth to anyone who sets themselves up as a health guru. In 1911, two wealthy British sisters – of the type that my line of work tends to call the ‘worried well’ – travelled to the United States in order to undergo the ‘fasting cure’ in the sanitarium of Dr Linda Burfield Hazzard. Buying into ‘Dr’ Hazzard’s assertions that every single one 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.

Share the post "Beware those who promise that they have the answer to everything"

3/13/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:7 |


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