Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Literature will/might/won’t Save the World. Maybe. I’m not sure the book ever told me.

The Heavens by Sandra Newman

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This book takes some really big swings and while it doesn’t miss, it does seemingly bunt the ball. Commenting on the War on Terror & its justifications in the early 2000s – Check. Historical drama featuring Shakespeare – Check. Questioning if Time Travel does actually happen or is just in the mind of the protagonist a la Twelve Monkeys – Check. I could go on. There’s so much happening here that I found myself skimming backwards in the book like it’s a Choose Your Own […]

J’Accuse

To Start A War: How the Bush Administration Took America Into Iraq by Robert Draper

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When Dick Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris this past week, I blanched. I understand the political appeal of Cheney’s endorsement. And I’m on board for whatever it takes to win this election. I am a single issue voter and that issue is my deep desire to not have Donald Trump involved in any aspect of my life. But it’s still disheartening to watch people who want Trump held accountable cheer for Cheney because we let all of these folks off the hook. Robert Draper tries to […]

The Book We Need For This Moment

Reign of Terror: How The 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump by Spencer Ackerman

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The best, simplest review I can give it is to quote from political operative Robert Wheel (@bobbybigwheel on Twitter): You know it’s a good book because every page pisses you off. I was 17 years old when we invaded Iraq. At the time, I was a champion for the war because I believed our government. Why would our government lie? Even as I began to question things in 2003 and 2004, I still voted for George W. Bush in my first presidential election. I was […]

The Weekend

Absolute Friends by John Le Carré

Are Snakes Necessary? by Brian De Palma and Susan Lehman

The Jedi Doth Return (William Shakespeare's Star Wars) by Ian Doescher

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I really wanted to write separate reviews of these but life is incredibly busy right now so this will have to suffice… Absolute Friends *** This is another review I’m glad I slept on. I really wish I liked it more than I did. The beginning was great: two friends making their way across the chasm of time and space in the post-WWII Cold War Europe. Idealism mixed with low class status, the desire to create a better world but lacking in power to do […]

Do You Want to Win the War on Terror, or Not?

A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carré

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When the Cold War ended, a lot of espionage/thriller writers didn’t know what to do with themselves. Tom Clancy, in particular, invented new villains and resurrected old ones for the US to shadowbox with. We were the last remaining superpower and there really wasn’t anything threatening us. And then 9/11 happened. It was like plugging in an electrical socket. Overnight, there emerged a raft of anti-terrorist fiction that both purports to understand Islam (it does not) and/or the Middle East (ditto). It continues today, a […]

Plenty of explosions, but not as many sweeping camera angles.

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Bravely etched into the opening chapter of this book is the proclamation that the harrowing account of the attack in Benghazi will not include a rundown of the crimes, real or imagined, of the Obama administration. This is not a political book. And thank Christ for that. Don’t get me wrong, I love history, and I see politics as history experienced unclouded by the mists of time. I enjoy reading about political machinations, and try to view the world through various partisan lenses. But there […]



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